Damen and Herra
Chapter 1 - Unexplained Tension 2100
"2076, Earth is now united under one government." said the history professor to a class of seemingly uninterested students apart from two.
Damen's attention was captured on Herra who was focused on the lecture. His attention has been victim of her presence for near 3 years now. Damen felt a feeling that truly could not be put into any words. Whenever Damen caught a glimpse of this perfection, he would go crazy inside. Herra had pale golden-brown hair that matched and complimented her pale skin. Her perfect postured which he always tried to mimic in hopes of impressing her. But one aspect of her was not adamant at all. Every time Damen made eye contact with Herra, her eyes seemed to change. He was not sure if this was just a misinterpreted thought he had every now and then or if this change had any meaning, particularly a story behind them. Damen could spend hours upon hours just thinking about one feature of her, but that always just depressed him. Back to class.
Damen now stared at his tablet hooked up to his desk. The clock read 13:00, class was now over. He packed up his tablet and scurried for the door. Damen usually tried to walk close to Herra as if she would acknowledge him, but that was a fantasy. Damen walked out the door and down the hall, right in front of Herra. Once they arrived at the intersection she turned right and walked away, not a word. Damen stood and stared. He had one year left of school and he was all ready a quarter through the year. Next year he would be put in a specialized section of the military, which is located in the Quinque-Mirus-terra system. In the system, there were Five planets with five very different environments for high-risk training. Damen wanted to be an Aeronautical Special Operations soldier. These soldiers were overseen by the Order of Hamil, which was a specialized military squad that dealt with high priority missions. Damen did not know what Herra was going into, one part of him honestly hoped she would be with him. Damen knew he could make an impression on her if they were together. He never worked well in public settings but when he was placed with someone he did extremely well socially. But few went into the Order of Hamil, and even less came out of training on the five planets. Each planet was harder than the last, or that is what most rumors said. There is a choice to drop out, but one must make it to the third planet first. Damen was thinking too much, he turned and walked for his dorm.
Damen walked to the transit line. The soft glow of red organic light emitting diodes illuminated his face and walkway. The walls were barely visible and the only way he knew where he was going was to look at the ground that had orange arrows glowing. He finally arrived to the station. There a single autonomous car waited to take him where ever he wanted. There was only one car in the station. The station usually was empty and lonely, that is the price that is paid when a system is so efficient. Damen was going to see his three friends, so he typed in the option in his tablet of the east dorm. The ride was short, since they lived on campus. Only 40 miles away from the school building, which may sound large but since the cars do not have to account for human error they can travel at faster speeds. As the car rode about 100 meters off the ground, following a lit runway of faded green streaks, Damen looked out of the car. The view of gigantic buildings and floating gardens struck him with awe every time. This military base was truly beautiful and well kept. The buildings were all updated and new, they were all earth tones with designs like an ancient silicon microchip. The base felt like a ghost town. Few students were on the ground, there never were that many. The outside had little technology so little to offer compared to the gadget supreme insides. Damen always enjoyed the outside.
Twenty minutes later, Damen stepped out onto the floating platform in front of the second level of a two-story dorm. There he met up with his three friends, Andrew, Jacob and Charles. Andrew and Jacob were planning to be in the planetary defense force. They would be going up to space and living on space ships. Charles wanted to be a teacher in the force, he would be placed in occupied cities and win the hearts of the locals by giving them the greatest gift, education.
Jacob and Andy were talking about track, one of the few sports that students could do here. Even Track was done inside.
Jacob was rubbing his knees. "So captain made us run in the high gravity chamber again. A real bitch on my knees. I hate that man."
Andy looked up. "Yeah last week our Captain made us sprint in there but only for 5 minutes. I have been feeling the pain since."
Charles and Damen were silent, they usually were. Neither of them did any sports, all they did was try and start a Philosophy club. There were only a few members involved, asking questions in the Force was never a good idea. Still they took the risk. Charles was always asking questions and usually disapproved of violence. Charles always wanted Damen to reconsider joining the Order of Hamil. But he was steadfast in his decision. All the sudden, a stick flew straight at Damen. He caught the stick at the last second. His reflexes are always off when he thinks about Herra. The four were starting their customary pool game in the early evening.
Charles and Damen were on a team versus Andrew and Jacob. They played a few games on an ancient pool table that night. A satisfyingly calm night, a small diamond in the rough compared to recent events.
