Sleep never was my strong suit. I had spent decades trying to get the hang of it, but even after all that practice I still was unable to stretch it over thirty-seven minutes. The rest of the time I would lay in bed staring at the ceiling. The difference here was that I wasn’t alone.

I stretched and checked the time. Seventeen to five. On the hour the shuttle would arrive to take all cadet candidates to the assigned space station where we would spend the next few months being trained and evaluated.

“Can’t sleep?” Alicia whispered. She was a cadet candidate such as myself, tall, blonde, inquisitive, and unlike me completely human. “Neither can I.”

There was no point in arguing; my short and frail appearance had made me the target of her protection the instant she had laid eyes upon me. In her mind I was a scared little country girl forced to join the military in order to lessen the financial burden of my poor old grandfather. In my mind she was a nice person who was a full head taller. For some reason that made me jealous.

“I’ve never been off world,” Alicia went on. “I hear it’s nothing like virtual training. My training instructor told me to forget everything I thought I knew and be ready for anything.”

“You worry too much.” I sat up. “Nothing much happens the first few weeks. We’ll just be divided into groups, tested, then divided into groups again.”

I didn’t see the need to tell her that the dropout rates were close to twenty percent. Human bodies were just not used to prolonged space travel. Even with streams of nanites injected into their bodies they needed time to adjust. Three weeks was the maximum time the fleet could afford to spend on new candidates. Those who didn’t manage would never be assigned ship command; those who couldn’t in five wouldn’t be allowed to remain as space station personnel and would be relocated to ground support. Alicia was most likely going to make the cut, even if she’d have the worst week of her life.

“I hope we get a nice ship,” Alicia whispered. “I’ve heard that some of the warships can be very temperamental.”

“A bit early to think about ships.” I stood up and went to my bunk locker. “We need to pass basic training first.”

“Come on,” the girl laughed. “No one fails basic training. It’s ship duty that gets you. Well, that and the officer you’re assigned to. I had a cousin who was targeted by her ship on day one. Managed to endure a full ten days before requesting a transfer. After that everything went smooth. She’s an ensign on a research vessel right now.”

“Sounds doubtful.” I put on my uniform. Back when I was in service cadets wore light green. Apparently now the colour was reserved for ground troops. Now the colour of the day was plain white. “Not getting dressed?”

“In a bit. I want—“

The lights of the room lit up. Report to shuttle pad! messages covered all walls, glowing in large red letters. My instincts kicked in. I grabbed my sandals from the edge of my bunk and shoved them in my military pack.

“What the heck?!” Alicia jumped to her feet. “The shuttle wasn’t supposed to be here till five!” She tried to squeeze herself into her uniform without unbuttoning it. “Think something’s gone wrong?”

“No,” I replied waiting for her to get ready. “There are no sirens. The shuttle must have come early.”

I tried to send a query via my personal comm, but access had been blocked. That was another thing I had to get used to. When I was a ship I had constant flow of information flowing through my brain. I knew precisely what was happening in and around me, as well as what to expect. Since I had become a human I had to learn to guess and speculate. Right now the only theory I had was that the recruitment office wanted to give us a taste of military life. It was a lousy theory, but the only one I could think of.

Once Alicia got dressed we rushed out in the corridor and towards the shuttle bay. Lights switched on and off as we ran, surrounding us in a constant bubble of luminescence. The facility wasn’t objectively large—as a battleship I was twice its size—but from the perspective of a human it took an infinity to reach the bay. When we arrived we were the first ones there.

“Where’s the shuttle?” Alicia asked looking at the empty shuttle pad. “Is this a drill?”

“Time will tell.” There were six minutes until the official arrival of the shuttle.

“They’re probably just messing with us.” She looked at the sky, standing on her tiptoes, as if it would help her see further. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” When Sev would ask that it usually meant he wanted to criticize me about something.

“What’s with the sandals? You cling to them all the time and never actually wear them. Are they a keepsake or something?”

“Not really.” In a way they were. “I just like having them around.”

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“Right.” Alicia gave me a look reserved for pets feigning ignorance to the mess it made. I smiled back.

In a few minutes the second group of candidates appeared: Jax, Carmel, and Kin, three boys, all in their early twenties, almost as eager to join the fleet as Alicia. In the two days here I’d barely seen them outside of the mess hall. The local recruitment center had very strict rules of conduct regarding its human candidates.

“Hey,” Jax said as he approached. His thin frame made the uniform look baggy on him. “Is the shuttle here?”

“Not yet.” I nodded in greeting. “I think they just wanted to be sure we’re ready when they get here.”

“I bet it’ll be a drive-by.” Carmel joined Alicia in staring at the sky. His real name was Carmichael, but the nickname had stuck thanks to the colour of his hair. “The ships hate planets. For some of them it’s a matter of pride not to touch anything on-world.”

“I doubt the shuttle will be sentient.” There were no sentient shuttles, at least there weren’t back in my time. “The pilot probably doesn’t want to waste time for five candidates. We’re not the only planet with candidates.”

“As long as the ship listens to me I’ll be fine,” Carmel smirked. “Some of the old ones are cranky when they get reassigned. The moment they sense you give in that’s it, you’ve lost them. The only way to avoid five years of hell is to show them who’s boss the first chance you get. Otherwise we might as well be ships’ puppets.”

“You’re being an idiot, Carmel,” Jax sighed.

“Hey, if you want to be a meat-puppet that’s your choice.” The cadet candidate shrugged. “I’m just saying things as they are.”

“Ships don’t even care.” I took a few steps towards him. It might have been a bit more imposing if I were a foot taller.

“And how do you know?” Carmel crossed his arms, towering above me. His annoying smirk had widened to a grin.

“I am a ship.” I said calmly and clearly.

For the next few moments time stopped. I could feel everyone’s glance upon me. Carmel’s smile had vanished as he stood there, uncertain what to do. Jax and Kim were speechless. Even Alicia had covered her mouth with her hand, staring at me as if I were a five-legged calf. I could have easily ended the argument there, cracked a joke, or at least made Carmel feel at ease. Instead, I just made my way to the other side of the hangar and waited for the shuttle.

No one said a word until the shuttle came to pick us up. We formed a line quietly and climbed on board. I was the first to take my seat and strap in. The rest followed, choosing to be as far away from me as the space allowed. Even Alicia sat one seat away.

“Hope you took all your gear,” the shuttle pilot shouted as we lifted off. “If not, better get used to it.”

If there was an attempt of humor it was lost. I glanced at Alicia only to see her look away. So much for parting on good terms. I knew I’d probably never see her or any other local candidate once we got to the station, but I never thought a simple phrase would create such a rift. When I was a ship I could just ignore humans, I often had. It was easy to dedicate a few of my subsystems to follow the orders of the people I didn’t like, while engaging in seamless conversations with any nearby ships. In my human form I had no such luxury. Sev was right, I was nothing but a synthetic brain placed in a artificially constructed human body. I was organic, but didn’t age, I had all my memories, but no ship capabilities; nothing but a brain fragment on legs that had spent two thirds of a century hidden away from current events. In another time they might have written a story about me.

Three minutes since departure, I felt my “home” planet release its gravitational grip. From here on we were in the embrace of space. I closed my eyes, as the the sensation swept over me. My human senses were incapable of experiencing the majesty I remembered.

“We’ll be docking with the Zodiac ship Bull Calf,” The pilot’s voice filled the shuttle. “When we do, strap out, jump off, and run to the nearest exit. Small hint, there’s just one. Anyone who’s still in will join me to the next pickup of scum, where I’ll personally leave you till the next shuttle ride. Understood?”

That was a lie, of course. The ship would need at least an hour to reach the next planet, even if it were in the same system. I could hear the candidates whisper amongst themselves.

“How many stops till the station?” I asked, eyes still closed.

“One too many,” The pilot laughed.

We reached the ship in precisely ninety two seconds. Emergency lights flashed, flooding the room with red and yellow light. I opened my eyes. With a single action I unbuckled my straps and stood up. Everyone stared at me. If any of them remembered their zero-G training they’d know that it was preferable to be free when entering a ship’s gravity field. The gravity plunge was rough, the same as sudden waterfall. My body wobbled a bit, but managed to gain my footing fast enough to remain upright. When the shuttle door opened I was the first to jump outside. My stomach contents made a slight swirl, though thankfully not enough to escape.

“Go! Go! Go!” I heard the pilot’s shouts from inside the shuttle. I looked over my shoulder to see Jax strapping out, his face twisted with determination. For a split second our eyes met. I could see a flicker of confidence mixed with rivalry and a touch of fear.

It wasn’t just Carmel, was it?

I adjusted my pack and ran to the hangar door. As it opened a sea of faces appeared. Medics, drill instructors, and a host of other cadet candidates packed the corridor, curious to see the new batch. Most of them were cheering as I passed by; they didn’t know what I was, but soon they would. In ten minutes there wasn’t anyone on the ship who wouldn’t know, and then their attitude would change.

“Welcome aboard,” a deep voice greeted.

“Thank you, sir.” I smiled to the drill officer by the hangar door. “It’s nice being here.”

The man looked at me with the disdain of an overworked babysitter then nodded for me to join the others. At that point I realized.

Bull Calf? I asked, my mouth shut.

“Never thought I’d have another ship inside of me.” Bull Calf’s laughter echoed in my mind. It had been so long since I’d spoken to a ship. My body shivered as a data stream flowed through the single communication channel remaining in my brain, overwhelming me. “Oops, sorry.” The ship decreased his data flow. “I’ve never talked to a decommissioned ship before.”

It’s okay. I made my way through the ranks of human cadet candidates. It’s a first for me as well.

“Right. Well, I’ll better leave you to get through the boring stuff. Talk more once you’re done with orientation?”

I’d like that. A new round of cheers erupted as the remaining four candidates of my recruitment station came out of the hangar. I was certain it wouldn’t be long before they let it slip that I was a ship. Right now, however, that didn’t matter—for the first time in decades I’d made a friend.