A Spaceman

Chapter 11--Once more, with Juice!

"CADET CARD WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN----QUIT LOOKING OVER YOUR SHOULDER WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!!" he and Tom ever so casually attempt to keep jogging with the others. Cheeky devils. These cadets will be the death of me one day.

"Good morning, ma'am," he says, innocently.

"Answer the question, cadet, where have you been?" I ask.

"Leave them alone—he's been with me," Thorn walks up, looking hungover. "I required Cadet Tom and Cadet Card's assistance in returning with Cadet King from IDMT."

"Sir?" I ask him annoyed that he couldn't have appeared before I gave a very imposing rant. "How did they assist you?"

"If you must know," he takes my arm and pulls me closer, "They helped me get free of that maniac you have working in medical! What is the matter with that person? he drugged me up!"

"Oh, yes, Dr. Truth Juice, I'd forgotten he'd left the academy, something about malpractice, you didn't actually ask him for something did you?" I ask.

"No—yes, but I should be able to ask for pain killers without getting drugged!" he says.

"You shouldn't have been hung over," I say, turning back to the Cadets, who are waiting for me.

"Cadet Card, rejoin your flight, everyone else, go get showered off. we have drill in twenty minutes, MOVE."

"Cadet Card you are not to report to the brig tonight," Thorn calls.

"What?" I ask, surprised he's overruling Ebbel.

"He saved me from that maniac," Thorne says, "the least I can do is get him out of something he didn't deserve in the first place."

**

Damn it damn it damn it. I do something decent for Thorn after messing with his head and convincing him I'm the antichrist, and he ruins all my fun. Now I'll just have to get thrown back in.

**

My reasoning is twofold. One, he actually did me a good deed, and stuck his neck out there for me when he could have gotten in trouble, and saved me from that serum administering sociopath. Two, if he is the antichrist, we might as well not antagonize him by sending him to a prison when no walls can hold his fiery spirit. See? Win win.

**

"Thank you thank you thank you for saving me," Logan has yet to stop hugging Tom.

"Of course, me and this silly beggar, looking over your shoulder when Wilde was talking to you," Tom says, rolling her eyes at me for the last bit.

"I know it's just funny—I used to do it to Thorn all the time—and my mum, drove them mad," I say, smiling at the memory. My mother screaming 'how many Titus' are there??" and me pretending to count invisible people. Happy times.

**

"Did it?" I ask, dryly. I don't have a mum to drive mad so that's a bit annoying to me. He can't help it, though, he's lucky. At least his mum was about to be driven mad.

"Thank you thank I was so scared and that awful man! You weren't kidding, he was at us, right away with the juice," Logan says, horrified at the memory.

"He had Thorn on more of it than you, the man was delirious," Titus says.

"It took us half the walk just to have him talking in complete sentences," I say.

"Well, Peter, anything fun happen while we were gone?" Titus asks as the boy hurries to catch us.

"Other than the MTIs ranting about the two of you going missing, no," Peter says, "It was long and hot, I'm sure you had a much better time."