The days went by, one by one, each slow and routined, but we were getting through. We somehow stayed strong.
About a week had passed since takeoff, and it really hadn't occurred to me that in eight days was Christmas! True, there weren't 'days' out here in space, but it was December 17th in Earth time.
It was very good that Christmas was close after the departure, because the ship needed some happiness. Though it was getting better, there was still a lot of guilt and grief.
Classes were a good distraction, though. My mom actually taught an astronomy class, so I took that just for fun. Might as well get used to the thought of space. It actually was pretty interesting.
My dad was teaching an engineering type class, but I wasn't in that one. That was more for the electrical majors, and since I was going into medicines mainly I was placed into more plant-based classes.
Allie also was going into medicine, though she planned to stay at the ship to do her work. Me, I want to... maybe... be one of the people to enter Novelta first. I just want to have some kind of purpose. I want to help something, to do something worthwhile for once. I'm not an adult but I'm sure they'll let me go anyway. I have a lot of time to decide for sure but as of right now this is what I want.
There's not 'homework', but there are 'study items'. At the end of our trip, we'll be having big tests in our classes, like exams in school. Depending on how well you do on the exam, you may get the job that you want. So if I want to get on Novelta first, I know I need to do good on the tests.
My major is Plants and Medicines, and all of my minor classes (as they're calling them) are Biology C (which deals more with cells and bacteria and such), Biology D (which deals more with the human body), Astronomy, and Basic Survival.
I walked to the 3rd floor with Allie. That's where the Plants and Medicines class is and most of the biology classes are located. In most classes there is a good mixture of ages, but in these types of classes there were mainly older teens and adults. There were a few elderly people.
The seats we had been sitting in were taken, so we moved to another table with a boy sitting alone. He looked up and smiled.
"Hi, I'm Leslie." he said to us. He looked about sixteen or seventeen. I noticed he was wearing makeup. It's not that uncommon to see boys with makeup as much as it was say fifty years ago, but I really don't see the point of it. Allie smiled back and introduced us.
"So are you two going to be one of the first to go on Novelta?" Leslie asked. Allie shook her head.
"No. It's too dangerous. Think of all the viruses and bacteria that our bodies have never even encountered... It's suicide for whoever is going to be exposed. They just want young people to go first so they can see if we survive or not. Right Ridge?"
I scratched my neck. "Well... it's not for awhile and I want to at least give it some thought..."
She started to say something in protest but just then a girl sat in the empty seat at our table. It was probably the only seat left in the class, because she looked uncomfortable sitting there. She seemed... strange. With red eyes and skin even paler than mine and black hair.. Had I seen her before?
Leslie was openly staring at her. "What's your name?" he asked. He introduced himself and us.
"Uh... Shard. I guess." She replied awkwardly, after a couple moments.
"I never saw you here before," Allie said curiously, "did you just get placed here or something?"
"Ms. Tahoe said to take this class..." she mumbled. I knew Ms. Tahoe to be the Animal Studies teacher.
Before anything else could be asked, class began and she turned and seemed to be listening intently. I watched her out of the corner of my eye. Who was this girl?
