Song of Stars

Chapter 1: I dream of stars

"Humans looked to the stars to tell stories. Kaivans, a species that call the Castor quadrant home, told the future. Genshas, from the Centauri quadrant, used the stars to communicate with their ancestors. Feshas, a sister species of the Genshas, used the stars to communicate to the planets outside of their solar system."

Juniper gazed at the night sky, tapping her foot in a rhythmic pattern as if she were listening to music. The sky tonight was brilliant and full of energy, like a thousand fireflies. One of the Milky Way arms was overhead making the sky even more majestic! She wanted to reach out and touch the milky white arm and stroke the stars. The thought of it flooded her senses with excitement.

           Stars are some of the dimmest objects in the universe, but they are the most beautiful, elegant, and they somehow manage to stand out even behind a bright, full moon.

           "Shall I go on?" The high-pitched, metallic voice asked.

           "No, Nova."

           "Juniper, I should remind you that your test is tomorrow. This is your only try. They do not allow retakes at the academy." Nova reminded.

           Juniper sighed. "I know everything. You and I have gone through these books and we've done hundreds of simulated tests and I've passed every time! Just let me enjoy this one night!"

           "But-"

           Juniper interrupted with finality, "I swear, you say one more word about the tests and I will take your chip out of my head!"

           There was a moment of silence and then Nova said, "Understood. You should know, however, that they changed the parameters of the test. You now have a 75% chance of passing. By tomorrow, there is a 20% chance that they will change it again."

           Juniper shrugged, "75% is good enough. Since we don't have enough information to know for certain the possible changes in parameters, I prefer to think that I will still have a 75% chance of passing."

           "True. Goodnight, then."

           Juniper could faintly feel the electrical pulses fade away to the back of her neck. Nova was annoying at times, but she couldn't be too angry. She was the one who reprogrammed the NovAI program to be a more sentient being. The new Nova was more aware of her space and that her body was also Junipers, but when the chip was placed in the holographic projector Nova chose her image to look like Juniper despite having access to an array of hairstyles and body styles. Nova sounded like she felt something, unlike NovAI, like she had emotions of her own. A near-perfect AI.

           "Don't you wonder what's out there?"

           Nova didn't answer at first, possibly choosing from a variety of optional sentences, or most likely a delay in electric pulses, which had just calmed. "We know what's out there."

           Juniper laughed. "Not entirely. There is so much we haven't explored a vast majority of habited planets. I need to pass that test."

           "Then shall we study more?"

           "No, I think not." Juniper stood. The roof tiles were uncomfortably slippery and dark to absorb as much light as possible. Carefully, she made her way over to the balcony rail and, finally, onto the balcony. The lack of streetlights provided the perfect environment for sightseers and scientists. Her family's property was always full of people and they were welcome to stay as long as they were gone by first light and always paid a toll. The guest room was hardly filled with guests now that the fall semester started. Come winter, however, and every room would be rented out to whoever chose to stay. She hoped that she would have to pack her belongings one last time. Once someone joined the United Planets Corps there was no coming home. Those that did come home were often branded as fugitives, cowards, broken, or dead, and death was a very rare probability without a war. Most deaths were caused by reckless behavior or tragic accidents.

Juniper could hardly sleep knowing that the next several days would forever change her life. She opted, instead, to turn on the TV and watch something mindless until she could sleep.