A Spaceman

Chapter 9--He wants to take over the Universe

"Titus did you get paired with a cadet?" it's sad that I have an innate sense when he's not doing what he's supposed to be.

"Yes." he doesn't sound like he's nicely indoctrinating some sixteen year old and showing them around the base. He sounds like he's balancing his precious eight year old girl on his shoulders probably while reading something and walking.

"And did you go and pick them up?" I ask.

"Um----are you going to quit talking to me for a while if I say no?"

"Titus! How long have you left the kid waiting there?" I ask, annoyed.

"Ah----somewhere between one and two hours, definitely no more than ten," he says.

"You self-centered jerk, quit being AWOL----don't deny it I know you are---and punishing Thorn just because you aren't going to be back in space for another year it's protocol you know that if it were up to Thorne he would send you as far away as possible," I lecture.

"I'm not---"

"Just because Riley is AWOL doesn't make it okay you are," I say. I know for a fact they both frequently go AWOL to go and visit their kids at the Academy. Which I don't mind on the principle that I wished somebody'd visited me at the Academy, but I do mind when they are intentionally shirking their duties to do it.

"All right, fine, I'll go and get the cadet. But it won't be entertaining," he says. that means he'll do it slowly.

"Yes it will, you have so much fun with your daughter, why? Because you get to teach her things, tell her how to be like you---it'll be really similar with a cadet, and you'll get an excuse to spend hours and hours on the flight simulators," I point out.

"That true I'm excited about that---but my daughter's little and she listens to me sixteen year olds-----"

"Yeah, when you were sixteen, you wouldn't listen to anybody truth be told you probably never did, but this is different, first off, thank god, this cadet isn't you, second off, remember how excited you were to get actual flight training? You listened to Lt Col Ziegfeld, because she was teaching you something you wanted to know," I remind him.

"You're right, as usual, Major Tom," he says, his voice cheering a little, "I'll go fetch him."

"Good," I say, "I'll see you at dinner, WITH your cadet, all right?" I ask. He would try not to or just forget to feed the kid.

"Yes, ma'am, see you then," he says, and hangs up.

I sigh. My cadet is looking at me nervously.

"Now, don't say I've never done anything for you," I say, pointing at him.

"Yes, ma'am, thank you ma'am----," he stumbles. He said that one of his classmates had not been collected and I know I was late because I was doing Titus-management-projects for Thorn, so I put one and Titus together and got a pretty good idea who might have left a cadet waiting around for eight hours. "Only, I was worried, you were one of the last ones to pick me up and Cadet Starr was still waiting---thank you, ma'am---was that---?" 

"Would you like another round?" a bartender is standing looking at us expectantly. I never said I wasn't AWOL too.

"No, the first three did the trick, more orange juice for him," I say, as my cadet nods happily. The precious little ginger haired thing likes sweets, apparently, and just got out of being deprived them at OTS.

"You were saying, Cadet Jordan?" I ask him, doing my last shot. I'm going to need it.

"Ma'am, may I ask who you called?" he asks, nervously.