The Next Big Thing
Indoraptor Year 1261, September, a week after Raizex's graduation day...
Dear Raizex,
After talking via phone call with your mom, I suppose I can't do much to stop you if you wish to go join the Grand Fleet. Now that you've made up your mind, I hope you can serve our space navy to the best of your capabilities, regardless of whether you serve as an infantryman, an engineer, a ship pilot, or even as a secret service member.
Just stay out of trouble, alright? I promise, we'll support your future career choice, but only if you keep your head down.
With love, Dad.
The summer season was about to end in one month, but for parents everywhere, it marked the end of their children's school year. Businesses were busy filing reports for the Union's Overseers to examine, patiently waiting for their approval. Utility workers worked hard to finish their jobs as fast as they could, as smoothly as they could, before the arrival of the rainy autumn season. With most schools having already done with their yearly activities, the Indoraptors were busy getting their offspring signed up to higher educational institutions, sending them to part-time jobs, or even enlisting them to whatever vacant position the Grand Fleet had.
For the moment, Raizex felt content at being free of any responsibility. At least until the autumn season began, he didn't have to worry about waking up late or dressing himself up in messy uniform.
He already stated his intent on joining the military's intelligence-gathering service to his mother, going so far as to argue with his dad on the phone about Raizex's future being his own to decide. All he wanted was to do something useful to his species and the Union. Thankfully, in the end, his parents relented and gave him their blessings, as well as advice to stay away from trouble.
Just recently, he spent some precious time with his friend Lyra, lying down in a park surrounded by nothing but green grass and sheltering trees.
"Are you coming along, babe? I'll buy you a drink if the others want to have some," Raizex rubbed his tail on his girlfriend's.
"What? Oh, of course not. I'm still waiting for my Post-Graduation certificate, you know."
"We can skip the ceremony and come back later. No one will notice."
"Ha ha. I knew you'd say stuff like that. Always the laidback teen, aren't you? Not to mention ditching classes multiple times," Lyra teased with a huge grin. She sent a playful fist toward her friend's face, which Raizex evaded smugly.
"Ooh, my babe hurt me! I'm so sad!"
"Oh, don't be like that. You always wanted to be some super spy working for the Grand Fleet, right? Do me a favor and be a tough boy, not the class clown you used to be."
"I can pretend to be tough, as long as my captain, or instructor, or whatever boss I'm working with keeps his eyes on me."
No doubt, Raizex kept no secret when he told his classmates about his future. He was barely surprised when others nodded in agreement; the other males, in particular, looked to the same future as he did, and some did immediately accepted recruitment offers after finishing school. The Fleet expected more to jump at the chance to fill in their shortages, but they could work with what they currently had. After all, the recruitment offer was meant to last three to four months from now.
Lyra gave him a soft affectionate purr, enjoying the companion of the male Indoraptor.
"Okay, let's pretend that you are indeed a bad boy who's not afraid of his boss and ready to work so far away from home."
"Well, duh, I did say that I wanted to be away from Earth for quite some time."
Rolling her gleaming eyes, Lyra added "Yeah, I've heard you saying that a few times before. But my point is; where do you want the Fleet to put you in? Do you want them to train you in real combat situations, shooting and slashing enemies left and right? Would you rather be the combat analyst, working real-time in front of those big fancy computers? Or would you rather be dealing with logistics and stuff like that?"
"I'm fine with either job. What will be your future career? Farming? Building houses?" asked Raizex, tapping his hand claws on the grass.
"A computer programmer... I mean, not really a programmer, but more like someone who watches over the colony's internet connection, making sure that we can still receive news and send messages without delay. Nobody wants to be cut off from the internet. You don't want to be cut off from your parents, right?"
"And where this colony would be?"
"Lemuria, of course. The shining beacon of our future!" the female Indoraptor dramatized that last bit of her sentence with pride.
Raizex sneered, "So you'll be a colony Overseer, huh? Answering straight to the Ministers and settling in the most popular colony to boot? You'll get to poke around everyone's privacy, I assume?" he aloofly asked, wondering if his girlfriend would someday become a control-freak. To his amusement, she shook her head and smiled gently.
"Hah, you wish. Being an actual Overseer requires you to dabble in the Union's politics, and I never really trust politics."
"You and me both, babe!"
"Exactly!"
Both rolled on the ground while hugging each other. After nuzzling each other's snouts, Lyra said goodbye to her boyfriend and went back home. Raizex sat on the ground watching birds and pterosaurs flew past in the sky, contemplating his relationship which had been blooming for years since middle school.
-x-x-x-x-x-
Indoraptor Year 1261, December, colony world Graniva...
This small office building was originally a reassembled colony ship. It had been renovated into a proper planetary administration office after nine years. Although its construction was celebrated by the excited colonists, Overseer Mesana was anxious; she and her workmen suffered from a shortage of efficient labor force. Two messages were e-mailed straight to the central government's ombudsman network, and weeks later there was no indication of more employees being sent to the rapidly-growing Graniva.
The answer she received instead merely spoke of the Ministers' need to divert some manpower to ensure an efficient flow of resources between the fledgling colonies. In the meantime, Graniva was told to work on whatever resources and manpower it had; the Union's Chiefs and Ministers promised to lend in their help if the opportunity came along.
It was an inescapable part of their duties, they said. A meaningless piece of data, she said.
What good is a decorative administration office if it wasn't staffed adequately?
As Mesana dolefully walked through the empty halls of the office, she noticed how the work tables, the computers, heck, even the cafeteria lacked the business of a typical office. Only a handful of janitors could be seen wandering about the halls, cleaning up any clutter left behind from the renovation work, and soon after their tasks were done, they went home. At this point, she practically had no job and was at risk of letting the colony fell into maladministration.
The Overseer peered out of a window in a hallway. Outside of it, the overjoyed colonists were congregating in a public park, celebrating the anniversary of their colony development with human folk music, traditional beverages, and grilling what looked like a large wild animal that was native from the planet. They must've hunted it down themselves, she thought.
The outside and inside atmospheres were so different.
"They definitely won't be that cheerful if the Grand Fleet put their soldiers here," a voice from her right startled her. "At best, the higher up may allow them some time to celebrate before getting back to work; ar worse, they'll have everyone working day and night until everything is deemed 'acceptable'."
It was that farming scientist who arrived at the colony two days ago. Who was his name, again? Farrell? Mesana was quite grateful for his aid in developing the colony, but one scientist and his two acolytes were not enough to ramp up the planet's expansion. She needed more.
"My God, Professor Ludvik, I didn't see you there."
"Pardon me for surprising you, Madam Iveran, but I really need someplace quiet to get away from my bumbling co-workers. I didn't expect you to be here by yourself."
"Eh, I was planning to go home after checking the rooms for any sign of disarray," the female Indoraptor bashfully answered with a hand wave, "Shall we leave together, professor? The night is fast approaching and I don't want to be alone here."
"Sure, let's leave together. And please, madam, it's Farrell. We can drop the formalities when nobody's looking."
Mesana nodded. A final check in one of the furthermost rooms revealed that, yes, the office was collecting dust from the absence of employees. Nobody would be working there as long as Mesana had no staff.
Ah, to hell with it. If Graniva's settlers insisted on being festive for the day, so be it. She and the professor might as well head back to their cabins and rest for the time being.
The Overseer briskly walked back to where she abandoned her mantle. Taking her office uniform away and left them cluttered on her table, she picked up her mantle and hurriedly left the office room, remembering to lock the room's door moments after Farrell told her to.
They gave the building one last glance before heading home. The sky was darkening; if the colony's security personnel declared curfew hours on the colony too, then they ought to return soon. No way was Mesana letting soldiers march her all the way home.
Mesana tightly did her night roster; showering right after removing her clothes (remember to conserve water), making a simple microwave dinner (veggies with meat cut into tiny cubic shapes), store all of her work utensils in the proper cabinets (Be sure to differentiate between the magenta one and the lime green one), and lastly check her phone for any urgent messages before sleeping right away. She could use some free time to polish her claws and tail, however.
No info whatsoever, great. Either her request was redirected into the 'trivial' mailbox by the Ministers or there was some sort of connection blackout that she didn't aware of. No use staying awoke expecting assistance that'd never come...
The time in the evening was equivalent to 11 P.M. on Earth when the Overseer's phone vibrated beneath her pillow. Jolting awake in shock, Mesana fumbled in the dark cabin as she threw her pillows everywhere, trying to find the device before it stopped vibrating. It could be very serious, she assumed, or it could be just a prank call. The female Indoraptor looked like she angrily trashed her room for being woken up late at night instead of panicking over her phone.
It seemed that fate finally relented and gave a respite to the furious Indoraptor as she got a hold of her phone right when it let out one last vibration. Turning it on, she spoke clearly into the speaker.
"Colony Overseer Mesana Iveran here."
"Madam Iveran?! Good, good. This is Farrell, you know, the farming professor accompanied by two bumbling incompetent acolytes?"
"Oh, you," Mesana breathed out in frustration. Surely the male scientist couldn't find a more inappropriate time to make a call? "Listen, sir, it's already night time and I have no more business with the rest of the colony, not as long as the Prime Minister and his subordinates postpone anymore support I demanded from him." She wished to terminate the call right away if only Farrell didn't get right into the topic.
"Exactly what I wanted to talk about. Just minutes ago, I got an official message directly from the Prime Minister!"
"No kidding? They actually responded?!" Farrell's information got her sitting straight.
"No kidding! Apparently, they mistook me as a secretary of yours, but the central government is indeed ready to send in whoever you need to run the colony! I'll forward you the message now. In the meantime, you should prepare a list of vacant positions and mail it straight to the Prime Minister."
"He wants it right now?!" Mesana practically jumped out of her bed at the thought of having to type down a list of potential applicants so late at night. Granted, she wasn't thrilled with it, but direct orders and requests from the leader of their Union were to be fulfilled straight away. "No, not now, madam. He has been informed that it's night time here on Graniva. But you'll have to prepare it at sunrise, this planet's sunrise."
"Consider it done. Thank you, Professor Ludvik⦠sorry, I mean, Farrell."
As she terminated the call, the female examined the clock in her phone, determining that she had between 9 to 12 hours left until the deadline. That left her with some 5 hours' worth of sleep, and maybe 6 hours or so to compile a document for the Prime Minister.
-x-x-x-x-x-
Indoraptor Year 1262, January, Washington's Nova Prospect Port...
"I'm sorry. There's so much I wanted to say..."
"I know, I'm sorry too... but time's short, we have to get you there first."
"Can't we postpone it a bit? I'd rather watch you go first..."
"Raizex Ludvik, listen to me! All of the recruits were already gathering there. You must not be late!"
"But there might not be a second chance!"
"This isn't the end. We can still see each other... right?"
The stressful day that Raizex dreaded had arrived. He never thought that he would finally be there; being drafted into full-time intelligence service and learn how to serve the Union from the sidelines. He was too busy learning the distinction between military service and intelligence service that he forgot Lyra was leaving too. She'd be departing to Lemuria, she said. His mother was certainly too happy and melodramatic at the same time to realize what was happening between them.
Raizex was issued a set of uniforms for his future undertakings. Those uniforms were issued after he completed the recruitment tests to serve with their military's intelligence agency.
Heavens, how time flew, Anna mused. One moment, she and Lyra saw him returning home after he passed one week of physical and psychological testing in the recruitment center. Lyra herself just completed her job interview to work in Lemuria, too. A week later, both of them were granted the authorization to go to wherever the Union needed them; the Grand Fleet's tactical information center for Raizex, and the Primary Data Center in Lemuria's capital city for Lyra.
She felt the two of them weren't sincere enough with how they said goodbye.
No joking, since both had to say lengthy farewells to their families and friends, not to mention the chaos that Raizex's mom referred to as 'paperwork arrangements'. To put it mildly, Lyra wouldn't be calling Terra Prima her home anytime soon; she'd be staying on Lemuria for quite possibly the rest of her life, even having an official ID identifying her as the colony's permanent resident. Raizex, on the other hand, would go everywhere he's ordered to, at the expense of not having residential rights unless he had a certified approval to remain at a specific place for a specific amount of time.
"Look out there, babe! The ships aren't even here yet! There's still time!" The distressed young Indoraptor tried to convince his friend to have one final goodbye.
"I don't care! Your mom and I can't afford to have you come late on your first day. Besides, who knows what kind of boss you're going to serve..."
"What about you then?"
"On Lemuria, you mean? Not sure about that myself. I've heard that I'd be accompanied by some geniuses that I've never met, but who knows?"
Raizex made a gesture as if wanting to kiss her, only for Lyra to stop him as she pointed her finger to the sky, "There, you see it?! The shuttles are here! I'll go find your mom, tell her to see you set off today!"
She was correct; a dozen metallic grey shuttles landed smoothly on the port, their doors slid open as soon as the shuttles touched the ground, ready to take fresh graduates to Adar Flam, the spaceport orbiting Earth.
Before anything else could be done, Raizex's right hand caught Lyra and gave her a long kiss of goodbye.
He actually kissed her, Lyra excitedly thought!
Just when Lyra wanted to respond to her boyfriend's kiss with a warm hug, Raizex quickly backed away, his clawed hands carrying his black leather backpack.
"I'll be alright, sweetheart," he sighed. "Look, you're right. I've got to go now and I can't say a long goodbye for you. But take mom to the third floor; you'll both get a good view of the sky and the shuttles."
The dumbstruck female Indoraptor could only stare as he jogged to join the other recruits, hesitating to enter his shuttle to give one last look at her. Mentally slapping herself for standing still, Lyra ran back into the port's terminal to find Raizex's mom and get her to see him off from the topmost floor of the terminal.
Suffice to say that by the time the recruits departed from the planet, Anna broke down into tears of joy as she watched her son leaving to perform his future tasks at the spaceport. Both female Indoraptors stared at the sky for quite some time until they were ready to head back home.
