Steel Ethereal

Ch. 10 Among Officers

Rob

Keeping awake is the difficult part of this boring part of my Promenade journey.

"... In this instance, you'd only need to subdue the shop keep. Their crime is minor, but the rejection of goods is still a crime. The preservation of equality is a pristine pillar to Promenade society..."

Three hours. Three hours since I took the seat I chose in the lecture hall. The thrusting into content was so sudden I actively looked around wondering if this was it? I was given nothing to take notes with. 

No pen and paper so I assume the instructors are wanting the recruits to memorize it. then they'll test us. Yeah, that has to be it.

The company next to me is unexpected but appreciated. Even if she is already fast asleep in her own arms with drool hanging off the side of her lip. I guess the stream of drool to reach her jacket sleeve in another five minutes. her auburn hair acts as a perfect blanket from the chill of the lecture hall.

Of all the people I expected to be seated as soon as I arrive, Charlie was at the very bottom of the rung. better yet, she recognized me and waved for me to sit next to her as if we'd been pals for the past few months. I still smile and approach her either way. I can't turn friendliness down in a place where I'm by myself. Especially where Riley told me I'd be on my own here.

The contents of my skull are turning to slush and there's no way to focus any longer than fifteen seconds at a time. After that, my head would nod. My thoughts would rush to what I'd do after this training or my eye lids would slowly dip like Charlie's.

Still, the lecturer talked. The thirty or so recruits all had to be in a similar state I was in. The woman, late forties with brown hair that thinned and turned to wisps of gray at the ends, still spoke on. Her voice was monotone. I doubt even Riley would have been able to stay awake.

The lecturer was dressed as an officer, the individuals who patrolled Promenade. There were soldiers as well but they never dressed in uniform, as the earliest bits of the lecture told me. I had noticed several officers before, but I never paid much attention to their dress. This woman wore elbow and knee pads. Her chest was padded with a vest of kevlar. Her patrol hat, a navy blue beret, was placed off to the side on the lectern.

The officer's eyes moved around the room, scanning the sleepy recruits. Her eyes lingered on Charlie for more than a dozen times and lingered for several seconds, even pausing her lecture to see if Charlie would wake up.

She didn't.

Ht was between subjects and slides on the powerpoint, between words, when she promptly slams her clipboard down. I hear it slap on the supporting plastic folding table. The ruckus wakes half the recruits up, Charlie isn't one of them. What she does wake up at is the statement preceding the slam of the clipboard.

"AND WITH THAT," The officer roars, "YOU GET YOUR LAZY FUCKING ASSESS UP!"

There's a panicked stir among the recruits. I shift nervously in my seat, but straighten my posture.

Officer Kerring, the woman up front had to have noticed Charlie's rest. She scanned and hovered her gaze over us at least eight times since Charlie fell asleep. But she still paid no notice. It seemed as though she had to brief many people a day and did not have the time to catch up with a simple few.

Charlie wakes, but slowly. She looks up, almost mildly distrubed that she'd been awakened, "huh, whuzzat?" She asks glancing around with near closed eyes. She slurps her spittle up and wipes it away with ehr jacket sleeve.