"What?" Apollonia yelled, trying to be heard over the crowd.

People were bumping into them, shouting and yelling in excitement as the winners of the parade were being announced. They'd started with number 20; the giant spider, who was now striding up onto the stage to accept their prize.

Kiseleva's face, while always beautiful, seemed oddly out of place being unadorned, not hidden by makeup or a mask. It was twisted in annoyance, and she held up a tablet.

Words were on the screen:

"Come with me."

"Now?" Apollonia shouted.

The woman nodded sharply, beckoning her sharply.

Giving a glance back to the spider man, who was now descending from his costume on a rope that looked like silk, she reluctantly followed Kiseleva.

Angel came with her. The dog seemed slightly alarmed by the giant crowds, almost becoming a tripping hazard she stayed so close.

As soon as they stepped into a side hall, Apollonia stopped. "Okay, what is it? I don't want to miss the rest of the parade."

Kiseleva frowned again. "You aren't going back. You have training."

"What?" Apollonia said. "I haven't trained in days!"

"Exactly," Kiseleva replied calmly. "It was a temporary pause and you must start again."

Apollonia threw her hands out in the direction of the parade. "But it's a holiday!"

"Officers frequently have to be on duty during holidays. Do you think we get a choice? No. We do our duty."

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Yes, but-"

"It is a sacrifice," Kiseleva said with finality.

So. That was it, Apollonia thought. They were going to take this from her to prove some stupid point.

She fought for inner calm. This was not the end of the world, it was just . . . well, it was really upsetting.

It wasn't like she'd ever gotten to really celebrate any holiday, and she was going to miss this one, too.

Her outward anger faded into a dull bitterness that she knew she'd just have to swallow.

Maybe she'd ask Brooks if she could have the next holiday all to herself, just as a favor . . .

Or Y could give her a medical exemption! He'd probably do that, she could argue it was for psychological reasons.

Kiseleva started off, and Apollonia jogged to catch up with her. Her regular exercise with Jaya in the mornings was maybe starting to tell, she thought.

"I've been exercising every day," she said to Kiseleva. She knew the woman thought she was a noodle.

"Good," the woman replied shortly. She seemed irritated if anything.

And that felt like a rebuke. She was trying! She should get some points for that.

They boarded a lift that would take them back into the heart of the ship.

Most of the ship's decks treated the front nose of the ship as 'up', but the Equator Ring was an exception. Apollonia hadn't even realized until she'd seen a map recently, but the halls and lifts into the area turned, reorienting the gravity so that the floor was 'sideways' relative to the rest of the ship. It was strange, but made sense so they could have the view of space above them.

It was a nice advantage to artificial gravity, she mused. One could place it going any direction they wanted.

"What are we going to be doing?" she asked.

"Studying astronavigation," Kiseleva told her. "Do you have any prior experience?"

"I think I made a mobile of the Tede System one of the times I got some schooling. It was paper and foam, mostly."

Kiseleva seemed unsure if she was joking or not, but continued on. "Astronavigation is a very difficult science," she said. "For obvious reasons."

"Absolutely," Apollonia said. "Obvious reasons."

Kiseleva shot her a look. Apollonia bit her lip.

"Being lost in space is no joking matter. And all objects are moving, often at different rates and in different directions, making it nearly impossible to find an object upon which to orient. On top of that, traveling interstellar distances means you are also essentially traveling in time, so all objects you observe will look quite different depending on your location in the galaxy."

Apollonia found herself without a witty retort. The idea of being lost in space was a terrifying one, and she found herself intrigued. "So how do you do it?" she asked.

Kiseleva smiled, very slightly. "I will show you."