Chapter 339

Landfall Space Academy

Although only minutes had passed at the Retreat, many things had already happened at Ship's academy.

Diana stood staring into the full-length mirror located on the inside of her closet door. Her beautiful hair was gone – well, practically gone. The buzz cut didn't leave much. "I look like a man," she whimpered, barely audibly.

"With those protrusions on your chest, that is not possible," Selina responded as she stared into her own mirror. "I am the one who will have to inform people I am a female."

"We're really a pair," Diana remarked as she shut her closet door, barely stopping herself from flopping down on her bunk. Instead, she took her comp and sat in her reading chair. "We have a lot of studying to do, but it sure would be nice to stretch out as we do it..."

" ... But, 'the bunks are for sleeping, '" Selina quoted from their manual. "Do you suppose he will return tonight?" The "he" being the second-year plebe who had inspected their room a few minutes ago.

"I certainly hope not," Diana said with a sigh. "I still don't think I'll ever manage to get my sheets as tight as he wants. If I pull them any tighter, I'll risk tearing them in half," she exaggerated. "And in addition, can you believe he actually measured the distance between the items on our shelves? He wouldn't even let us hang up our civvies, not to mention that our uniforms have to be hung just so, and he even measured the distance between them. Our clothes, uh, civvies," she corrected herself, "if we ever get to wear them again, are going to be wrinkled like crazy having to be kept in our cases. He even insists that our class notes must be organized in a certain manner. This is going to be a rough four years," she finished, morosely.

"However, he did not pass out any demerits..."

"Probably, only because he couldn't," Diana interrupted to say. "It's a good thing you read so fast, otherwise we would never have known that everything in our closets had to be a specific distance apart. But we still have no idea when the fourth-year classman is going to come by for the real inspection. And he has the authority to pass out demerits. I shudder to even think about an inspection from the Colonel."

"I suggest that we never leave anything out of place..." Selina started.

"Leave it out of place? I'm going to do exactly as the second-year guy suggested, and that's taking out only what I'm using at the moment, and then putting it back in perfect alignment as soon as I'm not using it any longer. I don't like their ways of working off demerits."

The two studied well into the night trying to finish the multiple assignments. Diana finally looked over at her roommate. "How are your arms after all those pushups? Are they any better? Mine are really sore and I can only imagine how yours must feel with your, uh..."

"Frail little body," Selina supplied for her, then sighed. "I survived, but that assistant instructor standing over me yelling..." Diana sucked in a breath worrying that Selina was going to say something about quitting, but instead, she continued with, " ... imbued me with the desire to decapitate him. However, I realize that my anger helped to strengthen me sufficiently to enable me to complete the requirements. What certainly caused my anger, however, is his obvious desire to precipitate my resignation. It is apparent in his facial expression, but he shall never achieve his desire – not from me. I shall become stronger. I shall!" she exclaimed.

Diana quoted. "No music, no outside calls, 12 hour class days, 6000 sit-ups, 6000 push-ups, 160 miles of running, all in the first twelve weeks. No sex between plebes, at least on campus, and certainly not with an instructor anywhere. We have two free days after those first twelve weeks, but by then all I will want to do is sleep."

"Oh?" Selina teased, "I would have thought that you would spend those two days somewhere with Carlyle having multiple orgasms."

Diana mock glared at her. "Not funny. That prick thinks he's the answer to every woman's dreams. But he glided through the calisthenics without breaking a sweat as far as I could tell – damn his arrogant ass."

Selina giggled. "I observed him watching you and have concluded that he likes your ... chest," she said with a smirk.

"Like all he wants. He'll never see them. Well, maybe that's not quite true. I guess he already has in that communal shower. But if he touches me, I'm going to break something of his that he holds dear," Diana finished grimly, then added, "I wish we had a shower in here. I hate that communal shower."

"I certainly agree regarding the shower. It would allow us to bathe without others staring at us. The men stare at you with lust, and they all stare at me because I appear to be a child. However, the Colonel was emphatic that any sexual harassment would result in instant dismissal from the academy."

"I'll share these with the person I choose to share them with," Diana said, tapping herself on a boob, "and that will never be that prick, but I don't trust him any farther than I can throw him."

"Do not allow him to maneuver you into being alone with him," Selina advised.

Diana sighed. "That's going to be hard to do. Remember what the Colonel said about us working with different partners in several subjects and scenarios during the four years, and there would be a lot of emphasis on teamwork." Then grimly, "Carlyle and I are going to have a talk."

Later as they sat studying, Diana saw Selina wince as she shifted in her seat. "Arms still bothering you?"

Selina put down her comp and let out a soft sigh. "I am unable to raise them above shoulder level; consequentially, I am very concerned about tomorrow."

"Go get on your bunk. I'll be there in a moment."

"They told us..."

"So, if someone walks in, pull up the sheet. We can't do this properly with you sitting in a chair."

Selina struggled to her feet and, after carefully pulling down the sheet and spread, lay on the bed.

Holding the ultrasound projector, Diana stood beside Selina. "I know you used this earlier, but I think it's time we did it again. In addition, I can do a better job of getting to your shoulders and back. Pull your shirt off and turn onto your belly."

Selina sat up and removed the shirt, then handed it to Diana who hung the garment in Selina's closet. "I do not require a bra," Selina said with a sigh as she plopped down on her stomach. "My breasts are mere suggestions."

Diana shushed her. Then, looking at the screen, the Queen moved the instrument around on Selina's back. "Lots of red showing up. We need to spend some time with this."

"But you have a greater need to study than I do," Selina protested without going into detail.

"Hush. I know that you're a genius and you have a photographic memory, so you don't have to study nearly as much as I do, but we're partners. I can't let you go back to those calisthenics tomorrow with your muscles in the shape they're in now. Stretch out all the way and be still. I have work to do."

Selina did as instructed, and Diana applied a gel that enhanced the ultrasound's effectiveness before beginning to move the instrument slowly across the red areas shown on the screen.

Selina turned a little to look up at Diana to ask, "At what point did you cease studying to help me with the ultrasound?"

"Stay flat," the woman admonished, then after a second to think, "Uh, I just started the section about rank insignia."

"Page forty-two?" Selina questioned.

Diana glanced at the bookmark on her comp. "Yeah. Page forty-two," she replied as she hung her comp back on her belt and returned her attention to the ultrasound.

"Rank insignia," Selina quoted as if reading from the top of the page. "Commissioned officers in the Space Navy have two distinct sets of rank insignia depending on whether the uniform is daily service or dress..."

Thirty minutes later, just before 2:00 A.M. Diana was finishing up when the door flew open and the lights snapped to full brightness. A fourth-year classman and the second-year plebe entered.

With startled squeaks from both, Diana whirled and came to Attention, the ultrasound projector still in her hand while Selina bolted out of her bed and came to Attention beside the taller woman, Selina still nude to her waist.

Nothing was out of place, even the bed that Selina had exited was barely mussed, because she had carefully turned the sheet and spread down. The fourth-year upperclassman seemed disappointed as he looked about the room, then yanked Selina's closet door open. After a critical inspection of the contents, he slammed the door closed, checked Diana's closet the same way and slammed its door shut before turning to stare again at first one then the other of the young women. "Get some sleep. Your first period instructor will not be pleased if you nod off in her class."

With that, he spun on his heel and walked out, the second-year plebe following, but he gave them a hidden thumbs up just before the door closed behind them.

"Shitttt," Diana hissed out as she collapsed into her seat. "That's the way to get your heart started."

Selina stretched before giving Diana a quick hug. "Thank you. The sensation of my entire body is much improved."

"Looks like we passed our first inspection," Diana allowed. "But the fourth-year guy seemed disgusted that he didn't get to give out any demerits."

Both women put their uniforms into the cleaning slot before donning their sleepwear. Three and a half hours sleep, at best, Diana thought as she turned her light off and slipped under the sheet. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. I hope Selina will be able to survive all the physical conditioning we will have to endure. Maybe the ultrasound will help get her through. I'll make sure to run the instrument over her back again early tomorrow morning; uh, this morning, she corrected herself. But she was worried more about her friend than she was about herself. With a barely audible sigh, she let exhaustion take her away.

The Prison Planet

Morales sorted the potatoes, carefully putting aside any that had the slightest imperfection. Returning the sorted ones to his rolling case, he picked up the lantern. When he arrived at the potato storage area, he carefully began laying the new batch on top of the last layer of straw that was already there, making sure that none of the potatoes were touching. When he completed a full layer, he covered them with several inches of straw before starting yet another layer, eventually building several layers of potatoes interspersed with straw until he had stored all of them the way the article described.

Standing back, he viewed his handiwork in the pit. There is still room for more layers of potatoes, but what is already here should be enough to take us most of the way through the winter. "Now I need to concentrate on getting more meat and preserving it. Dammit, there's always a lot more that needs to be done," he groused aloud.

Back at the entrance a few minutes later, he looked at the pile of culled potatoes. He had nicked some with the shovel while others had small dark places that he was afraid would rot. Looking over at the wolf, he commented as if it could understand him. "Well, we like fried potatoes, but let's try them another way. Mom used to make some killer mashed potatoes. I don't have any milk or butter, not to mention gravy to go on top of them, but I have that dried milk and some sort of powdered butter. Want to give it a try?"

The wolf put its head down between its paws much as a dog would, and watched the man. "Yeah, you're probably right, but I'm gonna give it a whirl, anyway. What the fuck else am I going to do with all that dried milk?"

Morales added smaller limbs to the cook fire to burn down into coals while he peeled potatoes. After cutting them into small chunks, he dumped them into the pan, added enough water to cover them and put the pan on the fire. While the potatoes were boiling, he split off another rough board and, using the spoke shave, smoothed it to form another short work surface. "I know we have to share, Lobo, but working with food on a surface you've licked is not going to happen. So you can keep the board for your plate, and I now have a new one."