The X Pathogen

Chapter Six

The walk to the auditorium was the longest five minutes of Ash's life. On the one hand, they were excited to find out if they'd passed. On the other hand, Nadil was walking a few feet behind them, and he looked mad.
    Saji leaned over and whispered, "should we be worried about him?"
    "I'm pretty sure he's completely insane," Ash grumbled, "so yeah, probably."
    Saji looked a little nervous so Ash quickly added, "don't worry, he can't do anything to either of us without getting in trouble."
    She nodded but kept anxiously looking over her shoulder every few seconds, just to be sure.
    Inside the auditorium, several large screens displayed all the applicants' names. Those who'd passed had their names in green, failed in red, and still testing were in yellow.
    Ash rushed to the screen showing applicants 200-300 and searched for their name.
    "250, 253," they muttered as their eyes slowly moved down the list, "257." Ash's eyes widened, the world suddenly froze around them. Right there, clear as day was the name 'Ash Dantier' written in the most beautiful green hue Ash had ever seen.
    A huge smile broke out on their face, relief flooded every inch of Ash's body.
    "Ash!" a girl called behind them.
    They turned around, still smiling. Saji was hobbling towards them, waving excitedly, "I got in!" she shouted, "I actually passed!"
    Ash's smile grew even wider as they ran over to Saji, "me too! I can't believe it, I mean I've wanted this for so long, but-"
    "It doesn't feel real," Saji finished breathlessly.
    "Exactly!" Ash laughed, "We're cadets! We are gonna be GSA agents!"
    "Both of you passed?" Nadil had suddenly appeared next to them.
    Ash clenched their fists, ready to beat his stupid face in, but stopped. "Yeah. we did," they said calmly.
    He glared at them, "yeah, well... so did I. Just because you passed doesn't mean you're better than me, or that I have to like you."
    "Fine by me," Ash said, "in fact we'll probably never see each other again, so good luck and good riddance."
    "Same to you, princess."
    "Stop calling them a girl," Saji muttered.
    "What was that?" Nadil's eyes narrowed.
    "They're not a girl. Ash already told you that."
    Nadil glared at her, "yeah well I already told her I don't care."
    Ash grit their teeth, "c'mon Saji, let's just go." They'd learned over the years that sometimes it was safer to just drop it. Plus, like they'd said, there was a pretty good chance they'd never see each other again anyways.
    Saji turned to walk away, but touched her pinky finger and thumb together as she did, which was an offensive gesture in just about every system in the galaxy.
    Nadil growled angrily, but, to Ash's relief, didn't come after them.
    "That was a pretty gutsy move," Ash grinned at Saji. They had to admit, this girl was growing on them. Saji had seemed so timid just a few hours ago, but getting into the cadet program must have given her a boost in confidence.
    "That was terrifying, I thought he was going to kill me," Saji laughed nervously.
    "Yeah, but he didn't, so it was awesome," Ash elbowed her playfully.
    Saji smiled, "thanks, Ash," she pointed to another display, "they started releasing squad assignments, do you want to go see who we're with?"
    "Heck yeah, let's go!" Ash eagerly ran over to the display.
    There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to how the new cadets had been assigned, so Ash figured the fastest way to find their name was to just go down the list.
    They ended up spotting Saji's name first, "hey, Saji! I found yours, c'mere!"
    Saji pushed her way through the mob of people trying to read the assignments. "Who did I get?" she asked nervously.
    "Hm, somebody named Agent Kyo. And your other squad members arrrrrrre... no way."
    "What?" Saji leaned over their shoulder, her eyes widened as she saw Ash and Nadil's names below her own, "oh. It's not all bad news though."
    Ash nodded, "yeah... still. We're stuck with Nadil for at least three years."
    "Wait what!?" Nadil shouted directly into Ash's ear.
    They took a second for their ear to stop ringing before turning around to face him, "guess what, we're squad mates."
    Nadil groaned, "Are you kidding me? What is this some sort of sick joke?"
    "Unfortunately, it isn't," Ash grumbled.
    Before anyone could say anything else, a voice over the loudspeaker directed all new cadets to find their new educator, who apparently had nametags and were dressed in GSA uniforms.
    "Well, if we're stuck together, we may as well work together," Ash said.
    Nadil gave a begrudging nod, but anyone could see he wasn't exactly thrilled about his current situation. Of course, neither were Saji or Ash, so the feeling was mutual.
    Almost half an hour of wandering and checking random agent's name tags eventually lead them to their new mentor. A dark skinned petronian man in his late twenties, with coarse, black hair that he'd pulled up into a bun. From behind, petronians could almost pass as human, but the distinctive green skin around their eyes and hands gave them away.
    When they finally found him, he gave them all a quick nod before introducing himself, "my name is Agent Kyo. I've been a member of the GSA since I was fifteen years old, and an Agent for almost a decade. Do exactly as I say if you want to survive as a cadet, and I mean that both literally and figuratively."
    All three of them nodded, even Nadil had no snarky comments.
    "Good. Here're your room keys, go ahead and get moved in. I left some information in your rooms about where and when to meet me tomorrow morning." He held out three metal cards with numbers engraved on them. Each cadet took one without a word.
    With that, Agent Kyo left, apparently having completed whatever he was required to do or say.
    Saji stared at the keycard in awe, as if it was the greatest treasure in the galaxy.
    Ash gave her a gentle poke, "hey, you okay?"
    She snapped back into reality, "oh, uh, yeah. This is just..." her purple cheeks turned a bit pink, "I've never had my own room, or my own anything really," Saji smiled at the keycard.
    Ash nodded, they knew the feeling. When they'd first joined the program, they'd shown up with nothing. No clothes, no luggage. Well no physical luggage, they were lugging around quite a bit of emotional baggage. Luckily the GSA required all sanctuary residents to see a therapist for at least the first two months of living there. Ash still saw theirs regularly, though they did so willingly at that point.
    Nadil shrugged and slipped his keycard into his pocket, "alright, miss not-a-girl, where exactly are these rooms?"
    Ash sighed. He could have at least dropped the miss. "Follow me," they grunted.
    The three of them walked out of the auditorium in silence. Ash and Nadil glared at each other the whole way while Saji looked around at her new home with wonder and excitement.
    The cadets' dorms were in a large, shiny new building that had been under construction when Ash first arrived. It was finished only a year ago, which meant it was one of the nicest living quarters available. The second the doors slid open, Ash stopped glaring at Nadil. They'd been staring longingly at this building for two years, and now they were finally inside. The entrance was decorated with a few plants from various systems and planets as well as a few seating areas.
At the back of the room were several lifts made entirely of glass. Ash glanced at them warily. They weren't exactly scared of heights, it just made them a little antsy.
Saji's eyes started shining at the sight of the lifts, and she eagerly hurried over to them.
Ash reluctantly followed, briefly glancing back at Nadil to make sure he was still following them. Once inside the lift, Ash checked the numbers on their card. To their relief, they were only three floors up. Ash pressed the button and the lift shot upwards. Within seconds, they'd made it to their floor.
Nadil stepped out first and started walking away. Ash didn't stop him. He'd eventually find out that the third floor only housed nonbinary people and girls. Unless there was something he'd failed to tell anyone, he was at least eight floors higher, but that was his problem now. Ash checked Saji's card, which to the relief of both cadets, was right next to Ash's room. They walked down the pristine white halls, their footsteps quiet on the soft gray floors. Cleaning robots whizzed by, keeping the dorms as clean as the day they were opened.
Saji stared at the robot, "are they cleaning?"
"Um... yeah, why?" Ash blinked. "What's wrong with that?" Service robots were common all over the galaxy, even people with little money usually had one to take care of basic tasks.
"I didn't know robots could do that. My masters always just made the slaves clean up after them."
Ash winced, of course Saji wouldn't have known. She'd probably grown up doing all the tasks Ash was used to robots doing.
"Well," Ash said with a bit of a forced smile, "we don't have slaves here. As long as you live here, the robots will take care of all that stuff for you!"
Saji smiled, "I think I'll like that."
Ash gave her a quick grin, then motioned to a door, "your chamber awaits, my lady."
Saji swiped her keycard and entered her new home. Before the door closed, she gave Ash a grateful smile and a little wave, "I'll see you tomorrow, right?"
Ash nodded, "definitely."