Frontier: Book One - The Space Cadets (12 page)

“
If you
’
re not coming out, I
’
m
coming in,” said Patrice, finally. “I
’
m
giving you a count of three.”

She hugged her knees around her.
He was coming to her
.

“
Three,” he said.

She thought of him coming into the
room and sweeping her up in her arms. It felt
good
to be so
wanted.

“
Two,” he continued.

But no. She couldn
’
t have that. She wanted to be a great woman, and not
the woman behind the great man. They would have to do it as equals.
There was no way she would let him carry her. She made to stand up,
but her legs wouldn
’
t respond.

“
One,” he said, flatly.

She stood up, turned and faced the
door.

It opened, and she saw his eyes
first. Locked on his eyes. They were the windows of the soul after
all, and through those eyes she saw a good soul. Did he see the
same in her? She hoped so, she longed for him to see her as good
also.

His eyes never left hers, as he
smiled gently. “We are here for you, Aisha. Always. But you need to
know what you
’
re up against.”

She half-walked, half-staggered
into the common room, and took a seat on one of the sofas that
looked out on the stars. Mercifully, Earth wasn
’
t in view right now, because she felt she might try
to jump out the window, to go home, to be a
meteor
. Perhaps
the rich kids were right after all.

Seamus had pulled a couple of the
bar stools over, and was sitting, watching her silently, with an
encouraging smile on his face.

Soo-Kyung had gasped when she saw
the cut on Aisha
’
s scalp. The blood still
oozed from it. The blood that had already dried on her neck was
beginning to itch. Soo-Kyung withdrew to the bathroom and came out
with a towel she’d soaked in hot water. She began cleaning the
wound, and Aisha flinched.

“
Sorry,
”
said Soo-Kyung.
“
But I
’
d better clean this in case it gets
infected.
”

“
Thanks,” said Aisha, and looked
back at Seamus. His eyes had drifted up to look at the top of her
head. “How bad is it?”

He looked back at her.
“It
’
s pretty deep. There
’
s a lot of blood. But I think Soo-Kyung knows what
she
’
s doing.”

Aisha felt
Soo-Kyung pause in her work a moment. Seamus was back looking up.
So he wasn
’
t
watching Aisha
’
s
head. He was watching Soo-Kyung. Despite the throbbing of her head,
Aisha smiled.

Patrice took the other stool,
facing Aisha. Seeing her smiling, he raised an eyebrow.

“
Thanks,” said Aisha. “You guys
are cheering me up already.”

Patrice was all
business.
“
It was
Bennett, wasn
’
t
it? Sebastian Bennett.
”

“
Yeah.”

Seamus rolled his eyes. “Not
again,” he said.

“
Again?”

“
That guy is a piece of
work.”

“
Wait, you
know
him?”

“
Yeah, he
’
s been in the academy as long as I have,” answered
Patrice. There was something in his voice.

“
But he came up with us in our
launch, I remember him.”

“
The one at the airlock,” said
Soo-Kyung, her voice was quiet. Aisha turned to look, but
Soo-Kyung
’
s hands held her head firmly.
“Don
’
t move,” she said. “I
’
m trying to dress the wound.”

“
That
’
s the one,
”
said Patrice.
“
He was kicked out of the school
last semester, sent back to Earth. I thought we
’
d never see him
again.
”

“
But like a bad penny, he keeps showing
up,
”
said
Seamus.
“
And to
put him on the same shuttle as a bunch of enrollees. That was just
stupid.
”

“
What did he do?”

“
What didn
’
t he do?”

“
Okay, in that case, what got him
sent back to Earth, and how did he get back?”

Patrice sighed. “If
there
’
s anyone in this school who has a
richer family than mine, it
’
s
him.”

“
So he
bought
his way back
in?”

“
Tells you a lot about this place,
doesn
’
t it?”

“
What got him iced,” interjected
Seamus, “the last straw, I guess, was that he beat one of the
Indian students to a pulp.”

“
Indian students? I
haven
’
t seen any Indian
students!”

“
And you probably won
’
t for some time, unless some get in via open
enrollment. Raj was our only one. He was a good kid, but constantly
getting picked on by the others. One day, Bennett decided to make
an example of him.”

“
What happened?”

“
We don
’
t know for sure, but Raj had to be
returned to Earth for treatment.
”

“
How do you know it was
him?”

“
They don
’
t send too many shuttles down to Earth, and Bennett
was on the same one. His records at the school were instantly
erased, like he
’
d never been
here.”

“
And now he
’
s back?”

Seamus sighed. “And up to his same
old tricks, it seems. Was there a girl with him?”

“
Lim?”

“
Yeah, that
’
s her,” said Seamus. “Victoria Lim. That
girl
’
s nastier than a bag of
ferrets.”

“
She
’
s
the one that cut you, isn
’
t she?”
aske
d Patrice. “Bennett would never be so
stupid as to get his hands dirty. No offense.”

“
None taken,” said Aisha,
understanding what he meant. “What
’
s her
story? She
’
s Asian, why would she be with
a racist like him?”

“
Racist?”

Aisha explained what he had said
to her, and how he had tricked her into a response using
that
word.

“
She
’
s an
unusual creature,” said Seamus. “Her family were emigrants to the
UK from Hong Kong. She was born in England, in Dorchester. Because
of the money her parents were able to make in the UK, she lived a
life of privilege. She associated all the
good
things she
had with being British, and by extension, her family had left all
the bad behind in China.”

Patrice sighed. “She
’
s the perfect companion for someone like him. Someone
who leaves behind all that she is in a desire to be more like him.
It
’
s a reaffirmation of his perceived
superiority.”

Aisha shook her head, and
Soo-Kyung punched her gently on the shoulder. “Hold still or this
wound will get worse. I
’
m going to give
you some stitches now, okay?”

She felt the cold spray of
anesthetic on her scalp, as Soo-Kyung got to work.

“
I have some expertise in Martial
arts, including the
bo
, which is very popular amongst the
older children,” said Patrice.

“
Bennett,” said Seamus, “is really
good at it, too.”

“
Not as good as me,” said
Patrice.

“
I’
m not
going to let you fight him for me,” said Aisha,
defiantly.

Patrice smiled his kind smile. “I
know,” he said. “But you are going to let me help you learn how to
use it, so you can defend yourself against him in the
future.”

“
And I know a thing or two as
well,” said Soo-Kyung, as she put the finishing touches on some
liquid sutures. “Wound is clean and stitched up. It
’
ll likely sting for a while, but I don
’
t think your brain leaked out.”

“
So you
’
re going to teach me to fight?”

“
I’
m
going to teach you to
defend yourself
, there
’
s a difference.”

She could see the seriousness in
his eyes. She never thought she
’
d find
that kind of thing attractive, always thinking that she wanted a
guy that would make her laugh. But whenever she looked into his
eyes when he was like this, she just wanted to get lost.

She felt a tap on the top of her
head from Soo-Kyung, presumably asking her to stop
drooling.

“
When do we start?”

“
Tomorrow,” said
Patrice.

“
Why not right now?”

“
Because you
’
ve taken a blow to the head. You should
rest.”

“
That
’
s
no fun.”

“
Learning to fight isn
’
t fun either.”

“
I thought I was learning to
defend myself
,” she said, mimicking his voice.

Seamus covered his mouth with his
hand and snickered. “She got you there, Buddy!”

Aisha laughed, covering her mouth,
and trying not to cry again. She remembered the despair that she
had felt earlier in the day, the desire to go home.

And then she realized that home
was
here
with these crazy people. Soo-Kyung, a member of the
North Korean elite; Seamus, an Irish hacker; and Patrice, the kind
of person she always thought that she would hate: Rich, white and
privileged. But instead he was kind and warm and good. She looked
at him and a warmth radiated from her heart.

Is this what they call
love,
she wondered, before Soo-Kyung insisted that the boys
stay for dinner.

Love can be such a powerful force,
and such a fickle feeling. Before you ever find love, you will
wonder what it is, and there are many emotions, many states of mind
that you might confuse with love.

Don’t fall for words of love.
Words without actions to back them up are meaningless. Don’t be a
fool for flattery.

Don’t fall for promises of love.
Love is present in the here and now. If someone loves you, they
love you now, not sometime in a nebulous future.

Above all, don’t fall for mere
feelings of love, feelings come and go, and can be
fooled.

You’ll know when the time is right
and the person is right. He won’t be one that you want to be the
one, he’ll just ‘be’ the one.

Love is an action, and the
ultimate action is sacrifice. When you find the one that would lay
his life down for you, and you would lay yours down for him, you’ll
have found love...

“
They are called black bean
noodles,
and they are a comfort food in Korea,” said Soo-Kyung as Aisha
tried to manipulate the inky, sticky mess onto a pair of
chopsticks. Patrice was looking at his suspiciously, but Seamus was
slurping them down like a pro.

“
Well, South Korea anyway. We used
to smuggle the packaged ones across the border into my country.
Cheap, nasty stuff, but comfort food nonetheless,” she smiled as
she ate a mouthful. Some dangled like a helpless squid before she
bit through them, letting remainders land on the plate.

Aisha sniffed hers. Despite the
dark color, they smelled sweet, almost like caramel. There were
small black bits mixed throughout the sauce.

“
It
’
s
just chopped meat and vegetables,” said Seamus. “It
’
s good!”

Patrice took a little bite. His
expression changed from one of surprise to delight. “It
is
good! Where did you get this?”

Soo-Kyung shrugged. “There
weren
’
t a whole lot of them in my country,
so we had to smuggle them in, like I said. I figured
there
’
d be less in space, so I packed some
of the ingredients to make them here myself.”

Patrice put his bowl down. “I
can
’
t eat them, then. You can
’
t have a lot, and it
’
s
precious to you.”

Soo-Kyung rolled her eyes.
“Don
’
t be silly, a pleasure shared is a
pleasure doubled, right?”

Patrice blushed and reached again
for the bowl. “I
’
m glad you said that,” he
finally admitted. “I
’
m starving and
didn
’
t want to give up good
food!”