Scolluzer VII – Moon 3 – Federal Navy Academy School
Sakaane woke just moments before the bedside alarm went off. The unfamiliar darkness confused her; the room was pitch black and devoid of all sound save for the quiet hum of air circulation fans hidden away in the ceiling.
Then the alarm blared its buzzer next to her ear and she remembered. This wasn’t home; it was a small windowless cabin, practically a closet, in a space station light-years from where she’d been born. The alarm’s light reflected off the polysteel walls, bathing the room in a blood red glow that blinked on and off.
Just like the emergency lights on the passenger liner.
Groaning, she banished the thought and reached over to turn the alarm off. It was 0600 station time.
“Lights.” The overhead flicked on. Blinking, Sakaane shuffled from the room’s narrow bunk to the opposite wall, where a doorway revealed a compact lavatory. She squeezed into the tiny shower stall. The water was on the cold side of lukewarm and she gasped, muttering under her breath about how the accommodations certainly did not live up to the exorbitant fee she’d paid for only one night’s stay. But as soon as she’d looked up hotel rates the night before she’d realized such was station life: living in space was not cheap and any amount of real estate came at a premium.
The water did not encourage her to linger and soon enough she was dressed, checked out of the room, and standing before the doors to the academy with her travel bag slung over her shoulder. Excitement tingled through her. Without hesitation she pushed the door open and stepped inside.