Under The Dome

Chapter 2: Aten

I stand at attention in front of the barrack door ; chin up, chest out, shoulders back, stomach in. My Squadron mates Cohen Flare and Deimos Terrell stand at my sides. Our eyes stare forward as General Bradshaw and a small girl, probably no older than 16, walk in front of us. She looks familiar but I can't place her face. 

"At ease, Cadets" General Bradshaw barks in his usual rough tone. 

General Bradshaw is the embodiment of intimidating, He's around 70 years old, but can beat most of the Rookie Cadets in physicals. His arms and chest are marred with white jagged scars that run up his neck to the left side of his head, the top half of his left ear is missing, and on his shoulder there are two rows of puncture wounds from a pair of massive jaws. 

On his command, as one we relax our posture slightly and place our hands behind our backs, fingers extended. I allow myself a brief glance at the girl behind General Bradshaw, she's tiny, 4'11" at most, her long black Hair is pulled back in a ponytail, little wisps have flown out to frame her Asian face. 

Now I Remember who she is.

"Cadet McCormick, step forward," General Bradshaw says.  Breaking formation I take one step forward, leading with my left foot. 

"I am assigning your squadron a new Pilot. This is Rookie Cadet Nova Bradshaw," General Bradshaw gestures to Nova, who steps up beside him. 

I extend my hand to shake hers, it's small like the rest of her and rough, she's built up a row of calluses along her palm. 

"Cadet Bradshaw, this is your new Squadron leader Aten McCormick," General Bradshaw turns to me, "I trust you to show my granddaughter the ropes, McCormick." 

With that, he pats Nova on the back and walks down the hall and around the corner, no doubt he's about to scare the living daylights out of anyone loitering in the barracks halls.

Cohen Flare is the first to step forward, "So, you're the famous Nova Bradshaw?" he says giving her the up and down "for some reason I thought you'd be... different" he says, waving his freckled hand around in her direction.

"Was your famous little science experiment the only reason Grandpa let you into THE UNTAMED two years early? Are you at least a decent pilot?" Nova looks down at her boots.

I know Cohen thinks hes funny but it's the kids first day, can't he lighten up a little?

 "I guess none of grandpa's gumption got passed down in the ol' genes, huh?" he laughs like he just made the wittiest joke in the world. 

Cohen Flare can best be described as a trigger happy moron, with a special affinity for all things pyrotechnic. In simple terms; he's our squad's resident, red-headed, weapons specialist, bomb enthusiast, and wanna be comedian. 

Right now all I want, like most people here, is for him to SHUT UP.

Deimos gently elbows the still chuckling Cohen out of the way and extends one of his massive hands to Nova, "I heard about your Experiment," he says, his green eyes shining, "thinking to combine the DNA of Croaterian flora and an Earthen apple tree was genius. Dangerous, but genius" 

Nova looks dejected at his words, "It would have been genius if I had taken the time to write down what I was doing," she says "now no one, not even me, knows how I did it." she sighs and fiddles with her fingers, "Now we have one stupid tree that grows apples 60 times faster and no way to replicate it" 

Deimos looks around and stands up to his full height, this kid is massive and, next to Nova he looks like a damn giant.

"I'm sure the botany department will figure out what you did, and anyway you've got other things to worry about," he turns toward our Barrack door "like who you're going to bunk with."

***

It's been 14 months since Nova was assigned to our squadron. Cohen, Deimos, and I just spent the better half of the morning sneaking into and out of the kitchens, and then another 20 minutes taking turns stirring heavy cream into white whipped peaks. 

Once we've assembled our masterpiece in a small tray, Cohen takes an old disconnected bomb wick and sticks it into the whipped cream. I hold the tray behind my back as we walk to the mess hall in a V formation to hide our creation. 

We stand behind our target, Cohen takes a stolen match and lights the wick. As one we take a deep breath and start singing obnoxiously at the top of our lungs 

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR NOVAAAAAAA, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUUUU!!!"    

Nova shrieks and ducks down to hide her face behind her old tattered notebook. Other Cadets around the room stop and stare, some laugh, others join in singing as I place the tray of whipped cream in front of a very red faced Nova and pull the notebook away from her eyes.

Nova looks at me then around the room at the hundreds of eyes gawking at the spectacle that has just taken place in front of them. I think shes going to slap me, then she makes a face like shes trying to stop herself from smiling. I exhale in relief and give her my biggest smile in return. 

She bursts out laughing and blows out the makeshift candle. The room explodes into whoops and clapping.

The boys say happy birthday, Deimos pats nova on the head like a puppy and Cohen gives her a side hug. To everyone's applause, she takes the whipped cream tray and mushes it into Cohen's face.

"HEY! We worked hard on that!" I laugh out as Cohen wipes the cream off of his face and into his mouth.

"I appreciate that, but the opportunity was too good to pass up," she laughs dodging behind my back as Cohen lunges at her with his cream covered fingers.

I stick my leg out so Cohen trips and goes flying into a table of cadets. 

Wrapping my arm around her shoulder in a big brotherly way I tilt my head down toward her and say "Happy 17th CADET Bradshaw" 

***

The mess hall serves whats supposed to be tomato soup for lunch, It's really more of a broth with canned tomato slices in it. As we all eat I listen to Deimos and Cohen argue about the qualities of ketchup. 

Deimos, using is superior botany skills, has deduced that since a tomato is a fruit; its pureed form, ketchup, is therefore a smoothie. Cohen is sitting next to me arguing that he's crazy.

Not gonna lie I kind of agree with Cohen.

"You don't think if I take a goddamn tomato and put it in the blender it's a ketchup smoothie?! Ketchup is a GOD DAMN SMOOTHIE!" Deimos says waving his huge arms out in front of him for emphasis.

"Oh my god, boys" Nova says under her breath as she gets up from the table and walks out of the mess hall, away from the madness.

Cohen shakes his head exasperatedly "you're going to tell me, you will put ketchup in a cup-"

"YES!" Deimos yells, cutting him of.

"In a cup and drink it?!?!" I ask, slightly horrified.

"YES! IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES!" he yells smacking his hand on the table."BECAUSE KETCHUP IS A GOD DAMN SMOOTHIE!"

"That's disgusting" Cohen and I both say laughing

"Yeah man," Cohen says  getting up and reaching across the table to pat Deimos' shoulder "you're smart but you ain't to bright"

The three of us laugh it off, and make our way out of the mess hall toward the training simulators. 

We head down the crowded hall I wonder where Nova headed off to.