Starbound

10 - Faking Emotion

The previous (two) chapters has been changed so read those before you read this one (if you haven't already) otherwise you will not understand what is happening

Zach

People say it's hard to ignore the world around you. But after doing it for most of my life I've found it quite easy. All you have to do is keep your deepest thoughts in close reach. The day your best friend ditched you, the day you embarrassed yourself in front of everyone, the day when the popular kid punched you, anything that caused you great despair.

And when something small happens, just think back to that moment of despair and loneliness.

I was doing really well, at least I thought so. I sit eating beside Charlotte, who is giving me sideways glances. Two other kids sit on the table too. A girl who is trying so hard to create conversation and a guy who is politely nodding to whatever the girl is saying. But I can't hear them talking, my consciousness too wrapped up inside my own head. I'm buried beneath my own thoughts.

No one talks to me directly. Or maybe they try, but once they see the look on my face they silence themsleves.

I don't even notice what is going on around me until Charlotte reaches over and taps me on the shoulder. I glance over, seeing everyone else getting to their feet and marching out of the dining hall. Getting up with them, I begin to follow the flow of people but have to turn to Charlotte to ask where we're all going and why.

When I look at her I notice that she looks excited, I don't understand why. I know that we won't be going to space yet, so that isn't why she is excited. Why she would be excited about going to space I wouldn't know. When she catches my eyes I raise my brows and nod in the direction we are walking.

'Where are we going?' I ask when she give me a confused glance.

'Training!' She says with so much excitement that her voice breaks. She covers her mouth with her hands and gives me a smile with her eyes, as if she was making a joke with a friend. She then stopped, as if she remembered that I'm not that type of friend. She lowered her hands to her sides and coughed, squaring her shoulders and deepening her voice, 'Sorry, we are going to training.'

I nod and looked away, trying to spare her from more embarrassment, and to hide an amused smile. I might like her, but she can be quite amusing sometimes. After a few seconds I manage to scold my face into neutrality and continue looking straight forward.

'What type of training?' I ask, surprising her.

'I-I don't know, they just said that lunch was over and that we are going to start our training.'

'Didn't we already do training at the Academy?'

Charlotte looks as if she is about to reply but she is cut off by the girl who was on our table sliding next to me, 'Yes, but this is professional training, like hardcore. I heard that they have a microgravity pool large enough to fit an entire spaceship.'

Another girl walkes up beside her, giving Charlotte a sideways glance, 'How does the microgravity work? Do they have a switch that turns off gravity or something?'

'No, they use neutral boyency,' I say, annoyed by her ignorance.

'What?' She says, confused. I wonder how the LOE let such an ignorant person into their Pairing program.

'Neutral buoyancy occurs when the density of an object is the same as the fluid around it. The object might feel weightless or as if it were somewhere with different gravity.'

The girl nods, 'But we can't breath underwater, and if we have an oxygen tank our density will be lower.'

'That's what weights are for Alyssa.' Charlotte cuts me off before I can reply, and if I'm honest, I've forgotten she was here. The girl, Alyssa, duckes her head, trying to use her hair to cover her red cheeks. She says something unintelligible and scurries off.

'So Zach, tell me about yourself,' the other girl asks, a coy look in her eyes. From the corner of my eye I see Charlotte perk up.

'I don't like gossip,' I reply. She lets out a tired sigh of annoyance. She seems to wait for me to say something but I stay quiet. Eventually she has enough and goes back to her pair, leaving me and Charlotte alone once again.

'Neutral buoyancy, huh? That's only taught in advanced physics, I never knew you were in my classes.'

I shrug, 'I wasn't.'

'Not something I expect an agricultural farmer to know.'

'I might've lied when they interviewed me.'