Heritage

Heritage (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4 – Elena

“Ok, Cadets, today we’re continuing our work on our A.I. Projectors. The holographic processors are faulty and it’s your job, and worth a fourth of your final grade, to find the problem and repair it. You have forty minutes until lunch, I suggest you find your partners and get started,” I say to the class at large.

A few groans can be heard from the back of the class, where my son, Leon, is sitting with his friends, who undoubtedly got very little sleep last night seeing as how all three of them were late for curfew, resulting in a demerit each. The Cadets get weekend passes to explore the ship’s many hot-spots, with a ten o’ clock curfew on Sunday evenings.

The ship, United Earth Ship Poseidon, is fifteen miles long by twenty miles wide and is set up like a regular Earth city, floating in the vast expanses of space. Shops, diners, roadways, a first-rate hospital and arcades are just a few of the ship-town s many features.

As the students pair off to begin their projects, Stella, a strikingly beautiful Cadet student of mine, approaches my desk, holding her A.I. projector in her hand.

“Yes, Stella? Where is your partner?”  I ask her, setting down my stack of quizzes.

“She’s not here today, Commander, she was taken to the infirmary last night for the stomach flu. That’s why I came to you, to let you know,” 

Stella is probably my best student, and most hard working Cadet in this years’ class. The young men in the class can’t seem to get past her flawless good looks and flowing, fiery red hair. A master in martial arts, a straight A student, a whiz with electronic repairs and beauty that rivals the Greek goddesses. Girls envy her, boys want to be with her, and her teachers, myself included, respect and admire her accomplishments.

“My partner’s not here either, Ma,” Leon says, walking forward and leaning against my desk.

“Leon, in class you are to call me Commander, you know that. Keep it up and you ll get yet another demerit…and tell your father,” I reply forcefully.

Ethan and Leon have a very close father/son relationship, despite the fact that Ethan can’t seem to control him any more than I can. But Leon is his own person, and he lives his life by the breeze.

He’s just as tall as his father, somewhere around six foot three and his hair is a perfect mix of my own and Ethan’s. Sandy brown, with my green eyes. He spends a large majority of his time with Ethan in the training center, working out and building his muscle tone, something which he is constantly bragging about, much to my amusement and chagrin.

“So, Stells, how about you and I partner up today?”  Leon asks, in his usual sly demeanor.

“My name is Stella, and I’d honestly rather work with a three-headed Sekrid mutant than to partner up with you,” she replies sharply.

The comment about the Sekrid mutant unnerves me for the briefest moment, causing me to stiffen in displeasure. Our time on that ship was a living nightmare, and the mere mention of such things brings memories of Ethan’s infection rushing to the forefront of my mind.

But now is not the time for reflecting on such things and I grin to myself at Stella’s boldness, because even I, Leon’s own mother, cannot put him in his place the way Stella does.

Ethan tries his best to instill in him the values we were both raised with, but Leon is hell bent on learning the hard way. He’s a trouble-maker like his father was in his younger days, and seems to attract drama and chaos wherever he goes. His knack for troublemaking has earned him more demerits, detentions and public service hours than I care to count. But he is our son, and no matter how much trouble his arrogant attitude induces, we love him.