“Next we will hear the presentation from the Vice President in charge of Situational Security,” I said, standing at the front and to one side of the class, checking more things off on my PADD. The PADD was a kid’s model, all bright colors and large buttons, but otherwise fully functional.

Ghorqan stood up and moved front and center. “We have decided to implement the buddy system! We will explore in groups of two or three with at least one of the members of each group to be responsible for their sub-group’s safety! When traveling to and from the excursion site, we will all hold hands and follow the designated Safety Specialist, that’s me until or unless I find a suitable replacement. There will be regular check-ins and reports!”

I had split the entire class into groups and delegated different parts of the trip to all the different groups, taking it upon my shoulders to supervise the overall planning. The work to decide how it would happen had been pretty quick in Ghorqan’s little group, but the pictures showing laser blasts and enemies being destroyed with happy children on a mound of their enemies had taken half the day. At least he had his priorities straight.

Everybody in the class had been divided up into teams of five or six, and we had all worked on our own sections handed out by the Executive Planning Committee, headed by me. There were a lot of Execute Vice Presidents and Specialists and Chief Persons In Charge’s, but I made sure it worked. We’d all prepared slide decks of pictures and information and one person from each group had been chosen to present their findings.

“Thank you very much, Vice President Ghorqan. Next we will hear from Special Scientist Attache Tammy Worthington.”

“Thank you Vice President Chance,” said Tammy, as she took Ghorqan’s spot. Her slide deck was actually rather professional, all said and done. There were lots of hearts and unicorns, of course, and more than a few rainbows, but they also showed what we would all be doing on the planet. “As you can see, our work will be to collect samples of the flora and fauna, categorizing them into Pretty, Interesting, Weird and Gross sub-categories. We will need the assistance of Presidents Miss Aurichs and Mister Jensen to identify anything potentially harmful before we perform any later physical examinations!”

Tammy’s last slide had some unhappy sick and or dead people on one side of a field, and much happier people on the other. With more rainbows.

“Thank you very much, Special Attache Tammy. Next we will hear from the Executive Officer In Charge Of Sleeping and Snacks, Sira.”

Sira Lyleson was a smaller child, another human. She was quite shy, but could make her voice heard after a few prompts.

“Th-thank you, Vice President Chance, Presidents Miss Ausrich and Mister Jensen. I-I think as you can see here we should all sleep on a bouncy castle so that we can bounce and have fun to relax after a long day of hiking and science work. My sub-committee vice presidents all voted and we have decided this will be the menu for the food we bring.”

Megan Ausrich and John Jensen looked at each other as they read the proposed menu. It involved a lot of ice cream, sausages, pizza and chocolate. The slide deck had children bouncing on a large bouncy castle whilst several other children all slept as they were bounced in the air.

“We, ah, may have to make some alterations to allow for… allergies,” said John, diplomatically.

“And some practicalities for the, umm, bouncy castle, but we will take your plans under advisement,” added Megan. “We’ll formalize the safety procedures and the scientific expedition goals and other activities, and then bright and early tomorrow we’ll all meet up here to head to the shuttle, alright? Thank you very much, children!”

“Thank you Miss Ausrich. Thank you, Mister Jensen,” came the chorus of voices.

***

The whistle blast from Ghorqan settled the class into silence.

“Line up on me!” he shouted. “My Assistant Vice President In Charge Of The Flag has our expedition’s flag design on it! If you hear the whistle, you will find it and report in! Thank you to the Executive Vice Presidents In Charge Of Making The Expedition Flag!”

Billy Thornton held the flag proudly, it extended just over six foot high and would be very easy to see.

“You will now find your designated buddies or buddy! You will hold hands all the way to the shuttle! All Vice Presidents In Charge Of Counting People will do their count before we set off and when we are at the shuttle and report to me!”

Ghorqan blew his whistle again, then marched up and down the procession of children as it slowly became slightly more organized, if noisy. Eventually he presented his PADD to the teachers and saluted.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

“All present and correct! We may now set off for the shuttle!”

Megan and John shared another of the Looks they’d been sharing recently, then shrugged.

“Alright, children, shoulder your packs and off we go!”

As Executive President Also In Charge of Expeditioning, Ghorqan was my buddy. Since Billy was holding the flag, although he was also Ghorqan’s buddy, he just didn’t have to hold hands. The order to hold hands had been relaxed into just making sure your buddy was in sight at all times for those who didn’t want to. V’lana had designed an actually very complete backpack and supplies list, so we all had our own little backpacks filled with useful things for the trip, involving extra rations, spades, drinks, changes of clothes and more. My bag was a bit heavier than the others because I had a few specific needs nobody else did, and didn’t have all their needs. I’d also got myself a proper uniform for the trip.

“Where did she get that twentieth century… Japanese? Preschooler uniform from?” Megan hissed to John.

“The replicators?” he hissed back.

“Not quite what I meant. Come on, they’re so organized they might set off without us.”

“I fully expect they already have the flight plan and authorization in place,” John chuckled, as they led the way out of the classroom and down the corridors to the nearest turbo lift.

***

“Good morning, Miss Chance,” said Kit Walker as the noisy procession entered the cargo bay. “I have your shuttle loaded as ordered. Your recreational supplies are all as specified.”

“Thank you sir!” I said, saluting.

“Recreational Supplies?” mouthed John, silently.

“Shuttle loaded as ordered?” mouthed Megan back. She cleared her throat. “Excuse me, may I look at that manifest?”

“Certainly. Thirty pirate hats, thirty foam pirate swords and one bouncy castle. As requested.”

Megan’s face grew cloudy. “Miss Chance?”

“Yes, Miss Aurichs?”

“Would you like to explain yourself?”

I almost said “no” but changed my mind. “Well, umm, Sira and everyone were so sad you didn’t let them have their bouncy castle bed idea that I decided to, umm, do something about it.”

“And who authorized these changes?”

“You did, Miss. You and Mister Jensen, of course. They’re, umm, listed as auxiliary inflatable shelter number one, inclement weather gear, additional, and auxiliary measuring equipment batch sixteen.”

Megan’s eyes narrowed. “And who authorized this many replicator chits?”

“Umm, umm, actually… I did.”

“You did? You realize that misuse of—”

“They’re my credits,” I blurted out. “I don’t use many credits so I kind of… banked them against favors and then called in those favors. Please don’t be mad.”

Megan tilted her head and opened her mouth in retort, but John burst out laughing. “She’s got you there, Meg. She filed the manifest and we approved it. There are no weight or storage issues and those are her replicator credits. I literally checked them out, first thing I did. Very sneaky, very sneaky. You know we could’ve just authorized something like this if you’d asked?”

I looked down at the ground, shuffling my feet. “Well you already said no once.”

“That was to the ‘sleep in a bouncy castle’ plan,” John said, softly.

“I didn’t want to take the chance,” I whispered, as he knelt down and put his hand on my shoulder.

“You know by rights I should have you removed from this expedition for this sort of behavior?” snapped Miss Aurichs.

I hiccoughed and rubbed my eyes. Darn them for making me more human than necessary. “Yes Miss,” I whispered, feeling a pit in the stomach I didn’t even really have.

“I think, as punishment, we won’t try to return all your credits to you, but let’s see what can be done about compensating for your extra-curricular activities. Come on, for a job well done on not only organizing this little expedition, but on successfully swindling Miss Aurichs and I, I think we should let you pilot the shuttle out.”

My mouth fell open in shock as Miss Aurichs rolled her eyes.

“Hah! I successfully surprised a Jovian! A red letter day if ever there was one. Is your extra core hooked up, Miss Chance?”

“Ah y-yes, sir, it is. I didn’t interface because Mommy—”

“Yes, well, I’m saying you can, with my assistance, fly the shuttle, as per regulations.”

I was dimly aware that, in the distant past, children operating such vehicles would never have been legally permitted, but long before the 24th century, technology had improved to the degree that now, with a qualified operator, anybody could be allowed to more or less push the right buttons as long as they were supervised. I let out a squeal of joy and powered up my secondary core’s mobility platform that was already onboard the shuttle and interfaced with its systems before the teachers could change their minds.

“Shuttle Chance reporting for duty, Sirs!” echoed from inside the vehicle. “Initiating pre-flight checks, on your command.”

Miss Aurichs clapped her hands for attention.

“Alright, let’s get everybody and everything else loaded, and we’ll get underway.”