Max decides that tomorrow when theyâre both well-rested and fed, would be a much better time to ask Nico about her Innate Ability, so he lets sleep overtake him. Tonightâs rest is much easier to achieve than usual. The pure exhaustion of the dayâs exercise has overcome every obstacle to drag him instantly into slumber.
He wakes up to a small hand on his chest, shaking him gently. âGet up and get dressed, the cafeteria opens in ten minutes, and weâre going to fix your hair first. They let it slide yesterday, but if you donât tie it back or cut it, theyâll most likely penalize you today.â
Max chuckles happily as he gets into his uniform. The white pants with a black Academy logo polo shirt and a black beret seem to be the male cadet version of fatigues, the less formal summer uniform for general purposes. That should do for the morning lessons, and itâs what Nico picked, though the female version of the first year cadet uniform uses a dark gray shirt instead.
According to what they found online, the girls are much more likely to wash out of piloting classes, and the logistics and operations staff all wears shirts in that same gray, but a different style, while infantry Cadets wear green uniforms. If they make it to the third year in the piloting program, all Cadets in the program wear the same black shirts, but with a stripe on the collar to mark them as pilots in training.
Itâs a bit annoying to Max that they put the data screens so far up the wall. Even for the adults, theyâre above eye level, plus theyâre touch activated, and he canât reach them without a stool. But Nico doesnât need to, it seems. She can make them work from wherever she is standing..
âWhat did you have in mind for my hair?â Max asks, grabbing his beret from his locker.
âRegulation Crew cut work for you? Or do you like it longer?â
A regulation crew cut sounds absolutely amazing to Max, but then he thinks of Sargeant Zamm, with his flat-top haircut and blonde hair that closely matches Maxâs own.
âCan you do it like Sargeant Zamm? How good are you at doing hair?â Max asks quietly, not wanting to wake anyone in the surrounding rooms.
âI do my own, but donât worry, I have a digital clipper.â
Max isnât sure exactly what that is, but it sounds professional, so he nods. A digital clipper turns out to be a mesh towel of sorts. It sits over his head, adjusts shape to whatever Nico is instructing it to do with that strange ability of hers, and then with a wave of buzzing, Max has a brand new haircut, safely within regulations, and Nico collects the blonde tresses of his perm.
She ties one small portion in a bundle and tosses the rest in the trash bin. The bundle she places on the top shelf of his open locker and then pushes it closed with a smile.
âA keepsake to remember your first days of pilot training. According to the screen, weâve got introductory core studies from seven in the morning until lunch, and then physical training from thirteen hundred until sixteen hundred.â
Max doesnât understand her timekeeping system, so he gives her a confused look.
âOh, sorry, thatâs one in the afternoon until four in the afternoon. Theyâll likely go over that this morning in the core studies class, but the Kepler military counts the whole day in a row, all twenty-four standard hours. Hundred is the double zero that means right on the hour. Fortunately for us, Kepler Terminus has a disbarred length day.â
Come to think of it; Max had heard Dave using terms like that before. But without a set schedule, learning to tell time wasnât a priority for him. He can read a digital clock well enough to know when food delivery should be arriving, though.
âThanks for the haircut, but arenât those things usually attached to a tablet or something?â Max asks, changing the topic as they head for the mess hall.
âControlling nearby Technology is my Innate Skill. It was too warm in the car on the way home from the hospital, so I rolled down the window, and that was that. My Innate Ability was set.â Nico laughs.
She makes it sound so basic, but she can navigate menus and set the shape of a digital mesh without seeing the software, so itâs not a weak or simple skill that she awakened.
âI can see other peopleâs surface thoughts,â Max says quietly, not wanting to alert the whole class to his ability.
âNow thatâs handy, youâll always know when they have a surprise planned. Just keep me in the loop; I detest surprises.â
Max suspects few things surprise her, with a lifetime of military memories and the ability to search through technological devices. He isnât sure that she can hack or bypass passwords, but with a skill like hers, sheâs probably learned how to by now. Even he learned the trick to cracking basic security from Dave so he could Pirate games off the Data Net.
Being the first ones to breakfast, theyâve got time to custom order, so they both get fully loaded omelets with Battered bread, an egg-covered pastry concoction Nico drenched in syrup.
An hour before class started, Major Payne came to the top floor mess hall to eat and found her two star pupils going over the cafeteria schedules on one of the wall screens. The worker nodded to indicate that theyâd already eaten, so Major Payne wondered what they were up to. Were they meal planning from the available options? Thatâs a bit unusual for twelve year olds, even if their mental growth has been enhanced.
âThatâs today, but the next day, everything served downstairs looks strange at lunch. If we come back up here, theyâve got the Coconut Soup which looks pretty good, and the chocolate protein shakes.â Max says to Nico, who sighs sadly.
âItâs a long walk, but thatâs fine. The schedule says the seniors get out of training an hour after we do, so we should be able to sneak in dinner from the downstairs cafeteria and recover before they get out of class both days.â
The Major is a bit shocked, not only at their knowledge but their planning skills and the fact they hacked the class schedules. Or maybe they asked someone at lunch yesterday? Thatâs a possibility, though the seniors usually donât give much help to the first years.
They disappear, and the Major quickly finishes her meal and starts to work. âEVERYBODY UP! Classes start in thirty minutes. Get dressed, get fed, and get to class on time if you donât want to run laps all afternoon. Literacy Skills are in the South Wing, room seventeen.â
She and her Sergeants will be escorting the main group there of course, since itâs their first day, but sheâs eager to see who all might manage to make it to the class on their own and who wonât even think to fall in with the group.