Daring to Dream

Chapter Six

He said he'll meet you in the library. Go to the aisle with the science books, and he'll be at one of the tables.

Keeping Emerie's late night text in mind, I navigated my way through the nearly empty halls of the college to the library. As a bookworm, this place was the place of my dreams, having books of every genre imaginable. Even though there weren't any novels from Earth, it was nice to read some new titles that I'd listed to later read. The science aisle was the one I had most frequently visited, since I had to gather data for preparing my notes. The tables were empty, but there was one huge machine sitting on top of the nearest table to me. It was huge, and magnificent. As far as my knowledge went, this was the model of one of the Venators, the colossal ships the Grand Army used during the heat of the Clone Wars.

The model was complete, if you ignored the paint job, which was halfway done. I had to admit, the details were highly accurate and intricate. This could simply not be the work of a student. Out of curiosity, I extended a cautious finger to touch the surface, judging what material was used for it-

"I would highly advise against adopting your apparent course of action. You see, the paint has yet to dry."

I jumped at this sound. In a hurry, I banged the nearby bookshelf, and as I massaged my head, two books flew down to me. I cowered for defence.

"Careful, now. You do not want to hurt your head if you wish to continue your studies."

Slowly, I opened my eyes to see a cadet stand over me, the two invading books neatly arranged in his right hand, the left one extended to me. Emerie was taller than me by two inches, but he seemed even taller as he towered over me. He had short, wavy, brown hair, and a pair of goggles strapped to his face. I took his hand gingerly as I stood up, mumbling my thanks.

"I beg your pardon for making you wait, I had actually just gone to retrieve my mathematical case from the geometry aisle. Now, are you hurt?" getting a negative from me, he pressed, "then that's good. What is your good name?"

"Zoya."

"You must be the first year Emerie mentioned to me. I am Tech Fett, her older brother, second year cadet. Shall we begin then?"

"Yeah," I said, following him to a table near the plane. My first impression was a nerdy yet highly talkative person, a combination I did not expect to find in someone. "Did you make that model?"

"Of course I did." He slung his bag off, tone completely normal as if making a shockingly amazing model of a Venator is nothing new. "It should be completed by tomorrow evening."

"You stay here until evening?"

"Yes. I stay two hours after college timings, which allows me to complete my work and sort out any lessons I wanted to revise with the professors. Occasionally I have to stay another one and a half hours if it's the exams season. This still leaves me enough time to enjoy at home and help out."

As I sat there, computing the time he spends at college, eyes widening at the result (eight and a half hours), he sat down next to a pile of books and stationery, a strange looking helmet nearby, and opened some books.

"Ah, that's my most recent project," Tech said, seeing my gaze stuck to the helmet. I wish I could give you an in-deep explanation of it, but we're running out of time. Now, which subject would you like to begin with?"

"Physics please."

*****

For the first time in my life, I enjoyed studying Physics. Even though the way he talked to me before was sophisticated, his way of teaching was very simple. He used examples, diagrams, his own made animations (seriously, what can this man not do?!), and his own notes to teach me, and if he found something wrong with my concepts or answers, instead of shaming me, he'd very gently explain it, showing my mistake without pointing it out, and I felt confident as I stood up to go to my Physics lesson.