Around four hundred words about Crais and the stars, written as part of 'The Stars Are Ours' a group project on the Leviathan mailing list. G-rated in spite of the title.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Naked
By Andraste
After the first few monens, Bialar Crais had adjusted to life as a Peace
Keeper well enough to be both pleased by his progress and frustrated at its
pace. The training hall felt almost over-familiar, and he stretched in
preparation for the daily sparring without much enthusiasm . He already knew
which of his class mates he would beat, and which would beat him.
This day, however, the instructors had a surprise planned: they turned the
artificial gravity off.
The recruits floated up into the air, screaming or gasping, bobbing in odd
constellations, banging into walls. Some of them squealed and giggled, as
if they were still children instead of soldiers-to-be. Bialar, who knew far
too well what he was becoming, cautiously turned himself right side up. It
was only then he recalled that there *was* no up in zero gravity. Whenever
he thought he had learned all the trainer's tricks, they reminded him that
he knew almost nothing.
Even so, day by day they were scorching away the son of farmers he had been,
revealing the potential Peace Keeper beneath. Every meal, the food seemed
less strange. Every day, the routine grew more ingrained. Each time he
woke, it took him a moment longer to remember that he was far from solid
ground.
For all his silent hatred for the army that had taken him from his home, he
welcomed this - if he must be a soldier, he would be a good one. It was the
only way he might be able to protect Tauvo. Today, that meant working out
what this exercise was for, if anything beyond a simple test of their
reactions. He kicked - not up exactly, but in the direction of what was
usually the ceiling. Around him, he could see other trainees who had far
more trouble. Perhaps they had never been swimming; born in space or on
planets without large bodies of water.
Eventually, he came to rest beside one of the tiny, grimy windows set high
up in one wall. Looking through the transparent barrier, he saw the void
for the fist time. There was a whole universe beyond the stifling confines
of the orbital training base, and Bialar felt his breath catch in his
throat. With virtually nothing between himself and the stars, the orbs
seemed infinitely close and close to infinite. He had never imagined that
they could burn so brightly with the veil of the atmosphere peeled away.
He could never get used to that sight. Yet he already liked it far too
much.
The End
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Naked
By Andraste
After the first few monens, Bialar Crais had adjusted to life as a Peace
Keeper well enough to be both pleased by his progress and frustrated at its
pace. The training hall felt almost over-familiar, and he stretched in
preparation for the daily sparring without much enthusiasm . He already knew
which of his class mates he would beat, and which would beat him.
This day, however, the instructors had a surprise planned: they turned the
artificial gravity off.
The recruits floated up into the air, screaming or gasping, bobbing in odd
constellations, banging into walls. Some of them squealed and giggled, as
if they were still children instead of soldiers-to-be. Bialar, who knew far
too well what he was becoming, cautiously turned himself right side up. It
was only then he recalled that there *was* no up in zero gravity. Whenever
he thought he had learned all the trainer's tricks, they reminded him that
he knew almost nothing.
Even so, day by day they were scorching away the son of farmers he had been,
revealing the potential Peace Keeper beneath. Every meal, the food seemed
less strange. Every day, the routine grew more ingrained. Each time he
woke, it took him a moment longer to remember that he was far from solid
ground.
For all his silent hatred for the army that had taken him from his home, he
welcomed this - if he must be a soldier, he would be a good one. It was the
only way he might be able to protect Tauvo. Today, that meant working out
what this exercise was for, if anything beyond a simple test of their
reactions. He kicked - not up exactly, but in the direction of what was
usually the ceiling. Around him, he could see other trainees who had far
more trouble. Perhaps they had never been swimming; born in space or on
planets without large bodies of water.
Eventually, he came to rest beside one of the tiny, grimy windows set high
up in one wall. Looking through the transparent barrier, he saw the void
for the fist time. There was a whole universe beyond the stifling confines
of the orbital training base, and Bialar felt his breath catch in his
throat. With virtually nothing between himself and the stars, the orbs
seemed infinitely close and close to infinite. He had never imagined that
they could burn so brightly with the veil of the atmosphere peeled away.
He could never get used to that sight. Yet he already liked it far too
much.
The End