I woke up with a start when I heard a door bang against the wall. A few seconds later, some shouting from the room next door started and was getting heated quickly. I let out a sigh and pulled the blanket off me before sliding off the bed and walking over to the window. The sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in sight, and I could see my baby parked in the parking lot. I could also see the blond sitting on the hood of my baby while some other woman took pictures with her phone, and I was not going to tolerate some stranger touching my baby without asking! I frowned in annoyance as I turned and walked over and into the bathroom so I could get changed without anyone walking in on me. Coming back out a few minutes later wearing my favourite black cargo jeans, a white shirt and a leather jacket with a Scottish flag patch on the left sleeve. I quickly walked over to the exit. I pulled open the door and stepped out into the hallway. The hallway was empty, not even a nurse at the nurse station.

“Weird…maybe it's shift change or something” I mumbled to myself as I started walking down the hallway to the elevator.

I walked past a few rooms, peeking in only to see them empty, causing me to frown after I passed the third empty room. “The hell is going on here?”

I could see a slight bit of dust on the surfaces of everything as I moved slowly, heading for the nurses' desk, hoping I could find out what was going on there. As I approached the nurses' desk, a woman appeared out of thin air like a hologram suddenly getting turned on.

“Welcome Void Pilot, I am Void Lieutenant Alencia Ferdinga. First, The void in our class gives us access to a sub-system of the galactic system. This is a system for the galactic military, anyone given access to this system is immediately recruited into the galactic military service. Secondly, congratulations and welcome Void Recruit Kenna Rowan Mackenzie. Soon you will exit this consultation session then you will be disconnected from the military system Link and returned to your body, once that is completed your status systems will receive a secure link code that will allow you to connect to the ship's servers that I am currently on. This ship will be the military Ship you will serve your enlistment time on for the next four years, re-enlistment is not guaranteed. Alright, we are out of time. If you have any questions, please ask your drill instructor. Congratulations, recruit, you are going to boot camp!”

The hologram woman vanished just as suddenly as she had appeared, leaving me dumbfounded and speechless. I opened and closed my mouth a few times, not managing to grasp what just happened. ‘Was that a recording?’ ran through my mind. At the same time, my eyes were drawn to the dust on the counter, unable to shake the feeling there was something wrong with it. I went to step away from the counter as everything went white and then black. When my vision came back, I was standing in the doorway of my room, having stopped mid-step. I could hear the noise of a hospital floor as people walked around it in front of me. A blue semi-transparent screen appeared in front of me. I glanced at it, ‘link disconnected’. I dismissed the screen and slowly started walking towards the elevator, expecting someone to stop me or talk to me about some system or something. But no one did, and I reached the elevator, pushing the down button. I turned around, watching the floor as I waited for the elevator to arrive. My eyes lingered on the clean counter of the nurses' desk for a few seconds before shifting around the room. I was interrupted by the ding of the elevator arriving. I turned around and walked in, pushing the ground floor button, and waited.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I stepped out of the elevator when it reached the ground floor and headed for the front door. I smiled when I got outside the hospital. Taking that first deep breath of fresh air that didn't smell of bleach and chemicals made my smile grow a little wider as my eyes moved to see my baby on the sidewalk and no one near it. I walked over to it and reached for the handle, only to find it locked, causing me to frown. I moved my hands over my jacket to see if there were any keys in my pockets. Not finding anything, I let out a loud sigh as I turned back to the hospital entrance. Only to see the knight from a week ago coming out. She spotted me and smiled as she fished my keys out of her pocket and held them up for me to see.

“Did you just get evicted from your hospital room?” she asked as she rocked my keys back and forth so they clinked together.

“I evicted myself, and now I'm going home” I replied as I started walking around my car to the driver's door.

“Not in the driver's seat, you're not, security drives. Her ladyship sits in the back.”

I groaned as I switched directions to sit in the back, deciding not to comment. As I reached for the door handle, the car made a beep sound as it unlocked. I ignored that and opened the door, sliding into the back and closing the door behind me before slipping my seatbelt on and putting an annoyed face on. It felt really weird to be in the back seat of my own car. As the knight lady slid into the driver's seat of my car, she glanced into the rearview mirror to look at me.

“Yes, I know it is weird to not be driving your own car, but your father has commanded it to be this way for your own protection. Now, before we head home, my name is Wilma Mackenzie, I am your cousin from a branch family of the Mackenzie clan. And I am assigned to your protection detail. Okay onto the important stuff, you need to know this for your own safety. The windows have been replaced with military-grade ballistic glass from our country's military and then reinforced by the system. It could stop .50 calibre bullets before it was reinforced, so I am not sure what on this planet could penetrate it now, if anything. The tyres have been replaced with military-grade no flat tyres. As for the body of the car, it has also been replaced with military-grade ballistic steel and then reinforced by the system, making this car one of the most heavily armoured on the planet. Shall we get underway now, young Miss?”

I just nodded my head as I slowly looked around at my car, trying to see if I could spot the differences, but I didn't manage to spot any. Shifting my attention out of the window I watched the scenery roll past enjoying being back in my home country. It wasn't long before we reached the gatehouse to my fathers' estate. We were quickly waved through and started heading up the long winding road to the mansion when a blue semi-transparent window popped into existence in front of my face, blocking most of my vision.

Recruit Kenna Mackenzie you have failed to arrive on time for your military recruitment appointment, forced up-link initiating in 5. 4. 3.

I stopped reading after three and quickly turned to Wilma to scream for help or a way to make it stop, but before I could open my mouth, my vision went white then black.