With a reflective tiled floor as his stage and the stars as his backdrop, Captain Galhardo addressed the five members of his crew in the observation deck. The yellow cape at his back drifted in microgravity.

“As you may know, aside from travelling to Neptune and documenting findings along the way, one of the Celestion-5’s other duties is to test out experimental equipment for the Interstellar Forces.” He picked up a plastic box at his side and handed it to his younger brother.

His younger brother, the lieutenant, took the box and handed out five pairs of glasses to the five crew members. Five strangers the captain did not know. Five strangers the captain did not want to know. Five strangers the captain’s brother badgered him to know. So, he began to scope out which one he might consider talking to.

“One for you, Mia~” Lieutenant Galhardo gracefully extended the first pair toward Ranger Mia Wattson.

“Thank you.” From what the captain knew of the freckled redhead, she didn’t like talking much. It’d be easy to leave a conversation with her if things went wrong. He remembered her reading a book about astrogeology; that aligned closely enough with his interests to feel comfortable starting a conversation. However, he always caught her in the midst of doing something suspicious. Could Wattson be trusted?

“Here’s one for you, Rookie!” The lieutenant winked, handing the second pair to Ranger Leonardo Summers, who eagerly accepted.

“Wooah, these are sooo cool!” As his nickname implied, the bucktoothed brunet had recently enlisted, just like the captains themselves. Both he and Captain Galhardo shared a passion for the Interstellar Forces and space itself. Conversation would be easy enough if they kept to those topics, but Summers often got curious. Eventually, he’d ask one too many questions…

“And one for you, Jun.” Lieutenant Galhardo handed the third pair to Ranger Jun Kim before engaging in a fist bump.

“Eyyy, thanks, Emil.” Ranger Kim swished the jet black bangs obscuring their eye. For a self-proclaimed ‘surfer brah,’ they displayed competence and maturity any good star ranger should have. It seemed absurd that they had to disguise as a man in order to enlist. To think that was only four years ago... Thanks to them, no one needed to repeat that. Captain Galhardo thought highly of Kim, but that was the problem. Being eight years his senior and having such historical significance, he would no doubt look immature next to them. It’d be best not to have more people seeing him as a child.

“Here’s yours, Aiden!” The captain’s younger brother gave the fourth pair and a chip-toothed smile to Ranger Aiden Kelly.

“Hmph.” Even slouching, the lean, mean goateed ranger towered over everyone else. Ranger Kelly’s enthusiasm matched his respect for the military in general, and he had blond hair as dirty as the crimes he committed before enlisting. The only trait he and the captain had in common was a lack of attraction, and even that was better shared with Ranger Kim. To make matters worse, the lieutenant saw him as some kind of role model when he looked more like a model for Bad Influences Weekly.

“And here you go, Roxie!” Lieutenant Galhardo presented the fifth pair to Ranger Roxanne Allen.

“Yaaaay! I bestow upon you my thanks!” The curly redhead lifted her glasses high into the air. Ranger Allen only held a low rank because she hadn’t yet completed her nurse training. Yet still she was the ship’s best trained medical personnel. That in itself concerned the captain, but her personality scared him even more. On all levels except physical, she existed on a plane of reality he could never hope to comprehend. The thought of holding a conversation with her made him break into a cold sweat.

The lieutenant captain twirled his own pair of the highly expensive, highly experimental glasses in midair before putting them on. He turned to Captain Galhardo. “Is it time to get this party started?”

“It’s a training session, Lieutenant.” The captain wished his brother would take things more seriously. “But yes, we may begin.”

“Okay everybody, let’s put on our glasses~!” Lieutenant Galhardo put his on first. “There’s a button on the top right to turn them on. If you could just press that please and thank you?”

Everyone obeyed without hesitation, even Ranger Kelly. The curly blond lieutenant had a knack for getting people to adore him. It was something his brother lacked and made him an invaluable part of the crew. Everyone trusted him, including the captain.

It made him a crutch.

“When it turns on, you should see something that says--”

“I see something that says Observation Mode!” Ranger Summers blurted out.

“Yeah, that!” continued the lieutenant, not minding this interruption.

The captain, however, would not let this stand. “Ranger Summers, you should know talking out of turn is a violation of protocol. As for your punishment--”

“Ooh! Ooh!” The lieutenant waved his hand. What part of ‘talking out of turn is a violation’ did he not understand? “Can I handle the punishment, bro?”

Captain Galhardo did not answer.

The lieutenant cleared his throat. “Permission to request punishment delivery, Captain Galhardo?”

“...Permission granted.” This would be the lieutenant’s punishment, too, knowing him.

“For your punishment,” he addressed Ranger Summers, “you’ll be the first one to test it out!”

“Wait, we had a demonstration planned; you can’t just--!” The captain regained his composure. “Ahem. Perhaps a hands-on lesson would be more informative. You may continue with your... punishment.”

Though he said the word ‘punishment’, Ranger Summers looked so eager about testing, it might as well have been a reward.

Lieutenant Galhardo dug out a pair of gloves and a belt from the box of testing materials and floated them over to Ranger Summers. “Here, put these on. They’ll let you interact with the glasses.”

Summers fastened on the belt, which had a target on his abdomen and one on his back. Both captains wore the same one underneath their jumpsuits. They also had on the same gloves, teal, rubbery, and almost identical to the standard-issue Interstellar Forces ones, except with circuitry patterns on the palms.

“Are you getting any pop-up boxes?”

“Ah! Yeah!” Ranger Summers snapped out of mouthing an awe-struck ‘wow...’ “I’m getting one that’s asking if I want my-- ...collision belt? --to be set to Shock, Stun, or Surprise. Is that the thing I’m wearing with the targets?”

“Yep!” The lieutenant smiled. “Pick Stun. You won’t be able to feel the shock through your jumpsuit, but you might feel Stun’s vibration.” He placed his fingertips on his forehead. “I don’t know why they put Shock as an option in the first place. Who’d wanna get zapped constantly?”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“It’s a good motivator for not getting hit.” informed the captain.

His brother shrugged. “I guess. Pick Shock if you’re cool with pain, it’s on the right. If not, pick Stun, which is in the middle~”

The captain selected the option on the right.

“If you’re feelin’ extra saucy, though, pick Surprise--on the left--” the lieutenant mimed pulling himself over to the left. Wholly unnecessary, “to randomize the results. ...That sounds funny, actually!”

Captain Galhardo shook his head as he watched his brother presumably change his settings to Surprise. It was worse than Shock, in his opinion. At least he knew what to expect...

Ranger Kelly raised a hand.

It shocked the captain that he had the courtesy to do that. “You have a question, Ranger Kelly?”

“Why bother saying where each button is when he can see ‘em? It’s not like it matters to us.”

The captain and lieutenant briefly panicked.

“It’s procedure.” Galhardo answered coolly. Technically, it wasn’t a lie. He did tell his brother to specify where everything was for a reason. “These prototypes aren’t well-suited for those who need reading glasses.”

Ranger Kelly looked around. “None of us wear glasses, though.”

“You never know.” The lieutenant wagged his finger. “Someone coooould be pretending not to need ‘em!”

A sigh left the captain’s nostrils as he hoped no one read into that. Another text prompt popped up on his glasses. He closed out of it, assuming it was just the notification that Leon joined. Yet another followed, with two indistinguishable options.

“Okay!” The lieutenant clapped. “I see you’re mostly set up. You should see something asking if you wanna set your glasses to Defensive Mode or Offensive Mode. Go ahead and pick Defensive, on the left!”

The captain set his own glasses to what should be Defensive Mode. Summers did the same. A new prompt appeared, filled with text. Before he could strain to unblur the letters, it disappeared.

A new one appeared, clear as day: ‘Session Start!’

“Let the games begin!” Lieutenant Galhardo lowered a pointer finger in Ranger Summers’ direction. From it shot out a steady stream of red orbs. This initiated his first pattern, simply titled ‘I Made This’ from what the captain could make out.

“What are thooo--? Woah!” Before the words left Summers’ mouth, an orb hit him.

“Better move out of the way!”

Leon obeyed, though not before the captain noticed that a few more should have hit him.

“It seems that the simulation fails to notice when a target has been hit more than once.” He stated.

“Yeah, that happened yesterday.” recalled the lieutenant. “It usually comes back in a few, though.”

“Oooh! Like I-frames!” Ranger Allen blurted out.

How many times did the captain have to repeat himself? “Ranger Allen, you are speaking out of turn.”

“Does that mean I get to go next?”

He didn’t have the words to express his frustration. “I’ll… think of something for you to do.”

“What’s an I-frame?” asked Lieutenant Galhardo. Neither captain understood what she said, but that was nothing new.

“Have you guys played a video game?”

“Only at friends’ houses. Our dad didn’t think they were ‘productive forms of entertainment.’”

“Ohhhh.” She tilted her head back. “Well, when you get hit in a video game, usually there’s a second or two before you can get hit again. Those few seconds are called I-frames. Without them, gamers would descend into chaos, rage, and sadness!” She curled her fingers to express these emotions.

“They’re short for ‘invincibility frames!’” Summers spoke up, having successfully glided away from the red shots.

“Yes, he speaks truth.” Allen confirmed.

“Oh, cool! I didn’t know that! You guys must really be into videogames to know about--Agh...!” The lieutenant winced--or winked, it was hard to tell with him--in pain. “Hahaha... Definitely a shock!”

“Are you okay? What happened? It’s not like he could get hit, right?” The bucktoothed ranger turned his worried eyes toward the captain.

He shook his head. “Do you see the three lights to the top-right?”

“Yea--wait, I only have two now.” noticed Summers.

“Because you sustained a hit.” The captain floated out of the way of his brother’s next pattern, a stream of orbs firing out from him in four directions, titled ‘I Made This 2.’ “Once the lights are all gone, you’ve failed the simulation, but if you can survive each offense pattern with at least one left, the pattern maker loses a light instead.”

“Ohhhh!” Summers followed suit. “So it’s like hit points! If I lose them all, I die, and then I have to start over.”

“That’s a dramatic way of putting it, but yes.”

“But if I don’t die, then he takes a hit!”

Speaking of which, ‘I Made This 2’ stopped firing.

“Hahaaa, a stun this time!” the lieutenant rejoiced. Spreading his arms out side-to-side, in front, and behind he started a new pattern… that looked exactly the same as the last one. “This is the last pattern-thingy I figured out how to make! Hope you like!”

“Isn’t this the same as your last one?” asked his brother.

“Trust me, this one’s special.” He winked. As if to back him up, the pattern was named ‘I Made This ~Special~’

Captain Galhardo stayed in place. Behind him, Ranger Summers floated on his side, struggling to right himself.

Suddenly, Summers gasped. “He’s like a boss! That’s so cool!”

“What do you mean? He was always your boss.”

“Ah, sorry, I meant--Captain, behind you!”

Suddenly, the orbs started firing diagonal from how they did originally. Time was of the essence and the captain only had enough to sidestep the shot, but astigmatism made him see double. He took a chance, he took a side… and took a shock, too.

Image: Leon watching as Lorenzo takes a hit. [https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/images/36173951_OZuhPdYfKusKqqu.png]

“Captain, are you alright?” Summers lay hopelessly divorced from the ground.

“I’m fine.” Honestly, the shame of getting hit was more painful than the shock itself. Captain Galhardo adjusted his hat and lent his cape to his subordinate.

The bucktoothed ranger latched on while his captain led them to safety. “Thanks! Wait… Did you also take that hit just to save me?”

“Huh?” From the others’ perspective, it must’ve looked like he walked into it. How embarrassing. “It’s… nothing.”

“Wow, Captain. Thank you so much! I really owe you one!”

He more than repaid the favor just by being there. It gave the captain an excuse to screw up so blatantly, one that he couldn’t afford not to have. His weakness had been so nearly exposed! Would Summers or any of the others still respect him if they knew he was afflicted with his mother’s eyes? Would they look down on him with their clear vision? He didn’t want to find out.

The rest of the pattern was easy enough to dodge. He found a space where he and Summers only had to lean back and forth to avoid the shots. Finally, it stopped.

“Annnd--Ooh~ A stun. Lucky!” The lieutenant celebrated. “Anyway, that concludes your punishment, Rookie.” He swiveled over to the others, but the lack of gravity made it so that he kept turning. Not that he cared. “We’re supposed to test out these glasses for a while, make patterns, dodge ‘em, and report any issues. That’s about it. Any questions?”

Ranger Kim raised a hand.

“Yeah, Jun?”

“Are they, like, for anything in particular, or…?”

“Oops! Good question. These are supposed to help us test our reflexes in zero-gravity, or something like that, right, L--right, Captain?”

“Correct.” Captain Galhardo pushed himself toward the rest of the group. “The Interstellar Forces Coordination Simulator was also invented to help gauge coordination when navigating in microgravity. Our jumpsuits are mostly impenetrable, but space debris can still be a problem.”

“It’s like when you drop a sleeve of cookies on the floor. The sleeve won’t break but the cookies might. Except we’re the cookies.”

“Good analogy.” He felt a tug on his cape. Behind him, Ranger Summers still clung to him like toilet paper on a shoe.

“Uhhh, excuse me sir, but is there a way I could get down?”

Summers’ words made him remember something that could help with his situation. “Lieutenant, did you bring the other prototype?”

“Yeah, it’s--” Lieutenant Galhardo searched around the room as he continued spinning. “It’s not here.”

“I see that.”

“I think I forgot to take it outta the stairway.” He admitted sheepishly. “I’ll go get it real qui-”

“I’ll get it.” Waiting in a room of strangers with nothing to do sounded miserable. Sure, running away like this wouldn’t help him get more comfortable around his crew, but was it really necessary? All his job required was piloting the ship, doing research, giving orders, and maybe some maintenance. Making friends wasn’t part of the equation.

Besides, keeping people at an arm’s length was the Galhardo way of life, and unlike his brother, few people were truly interested in getting to know him beyond that. The feeling was mutual.

Lieutenant Galhardo would make friends. His brother couldn’t stop him; he could only hope he didn’t get hurt. The captain, however, would tend to his responsibilities and little else. He knew the lieutenant would keep hounding him, but there was one last place where he could retreat. A place only he knew of:

His final sanctuary.

He opened the door to leave the observation deck, but one thing held him back. Behind him, Ranger Summers lowered himself using the doorway.

“Oh, sorry!” He let go of the captain’s cape. “There you go.”

“Thank you.” Captain Galhardo lifted his cape, closed the door, and disappeared.