Unveiling Nautilus

Chapter 1-Make up your mind

 Choosing always seems to be the hardest part. This is it graduation day. The day that we aim for the stars and select the career that we will stay in until we retire. My mother told me that when she chose to be a nurse, she just kind of guessed on what might make her happy. 

We take an aptitude test, but of course it is ultimately up to us what we do. Many people choose something based on their test and they end up hating it, making life aboard the Nautilus miserable. In fact it has caused many a problem in households.

My cousin Alexis's father hated his position as the clerk to the captain, a rather angry man who treats his employees like trash because he thinks that he is better then everyone else on the ship. Alexis's father fell into a depression would come home drunk every night and assault her mother. Right know he's serving time in the Brig for possession of alcohol, which is strictly banned on the Nautilus but there are still people who make their own.

There are many people on board who have an education in ship law, and are trying to get the career paths changeable, but so far there has been no luck. So I have to be very careful in what career paths being the way I am I even interviewed people in different career paths and asked them what the best and the worst parts of their jobs were.

Even with all the work I've put into it, I'm still having a hard time deciding what to choose. I'm sitting on my bed looking at all my notes again trying to make a final decision as to what I'm going to do with my life her on the Nautilus. I know that I want to make a difference and my grades are good enough that I would be able to do any position aboard the ship. One of the benefits of graduating top of the class.

I'm down to three choices. I could be a nurse like my mother. It is a well respected position and it is very beneficial to the community, and having a mom who tells me stories about her job would really help me be a better nurse. However, I don't think I'd be able to handle the pressure of people's lives being in my hands. I've seen my mother come home crying when one of her patients that she has become attached to dies. I know she tries not be become attached to the patients who have are more likely to pass, but she's so sweet and caring she just can't help it. I take after her and I'm afraid that career choice would take its toll on me emotionally.

Another option is to go into ship law, like my elderly neighbor Janice did as well as my dad. Janice has often told me stories of the great cases that she was a part of, and the ship laws that she helped to pass. She was the reason that the education system allows us to choose. At one point in time, once you took the aptitude test you were locked into your career. If I choose to do this then I'll have years more of school, an internship, and working my way up the ladder before I will even be allowed to change things for the citizens of the Nautilus. Dad is more of a criminal lawyer, if you get accused of something he's your guy. Dad tells less stories, but he does tell us often of getting innocent people cleared of things that they didn't do. Part of me wonders if he's ever gotten a guilty person off. He never says anything about those cases, but I'm certain he could do it.

The last career I'm slightly interested in is in education, being a teacher or a professor would be amazing. My grade school teacher, who I still go to visit on a regular basis, Mrs. Griffith has really changed my life. She is always encouraging me to do my best at everything I do, and has passed on her knowledge and love of history to me. I love watching her talk about history with passion and yearning to see the past. This path is probably one that I think I'm most interested. The Nautilus always needs educators and to have the ability to influence the lives of children would be a great contribution to life.

"Laney," my mother calls from down the hall, but I'm so deep in thought that I don't hear her the first time. "Laney," she says as she opens my door, "Honey, It's time to get ready for your graduation ceremony." I look up into her beautiful grey eyes, I just wish mine were as beautiful as hers. Mine are more of an aqua blue as opposed to grey. Many people love my unique eye color, but I'm not a person who likes to stand out. My mother says that I got them from her Grandmother, who had eyes just like me.