MF1.0 - 44 - Gym

Stef found the gym easily enough, it was the biggest room she’d seen yet. Typical equipment occupied the middle of the room, there was a shooting range off to the left and a balance beam off to the right. There were bleachers at the back, along with sparring mats and vending machines.

A hand wrapped around her shoulder. ‘Don’t get overwhelmed newb, it’s not that scary.’ She stepped forward and shook off the hand, resisting the urge to slap him. ‘And if you’re going to train, change out of the suit.’

She stared at the recruit, the one with the straight brown hair. ‘Not overwhelmed, assessing. Not changing, what’s the point?’

‘To be comfortable?’

‘Do you go into the field in what I’m wearing, or what you’re wearing?’

‘We train in training uniforms, suit yourself. Curt, by the way.’

‘Sorry if my manner offends.’

‘I meant, it’s my name.’

‘Ah.’

‘Now, did you pass the bonus round of your tests?’ He noticed her confusion. ‘Did you shoot, kill or otherwise maim someone?’

‘Yes. It was the logical thing to do at the time.’ She enjoyed the look on his face. ‘If you’re asking if I know how to shoot, not really, point-blank is easy for anyone.’

He swept his arm wide and walked over to the shooting range. ‘Standard paper targets,’ he said, ‘when you want something more complex, go into the holodeck. Sorry, the training simulator. You can set the level of difficulty, though it doesn’t let you do a mission more than once.’

‘Just like in real life.’

‘You’re unlikely to run out of missions though, I think there’s maybe two dozen recruits in history who have done them all.’

‘A lot are similar, and you’re graded on each of them. Just remember, all results get CC’d around, so don’t go in with the intention of losing. Looks bad for you.’

She looked to the doors beyond the shooting range. ‘Do people actually…’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘Danger makes some people hot, work it out.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">She stared at him for a moment, feeling her brain slowly reboot after that stupidity of the revelation. ‘And…and…’ she slapped a hand to her head. ‘Anyway…’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘If you’re planning on sticking around, we might want to know who we are. Me Curt, remember. The girls are Enid and Lisa – if you want to be nice, you could pick up a bit of AUSLAN for Lisa.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘I’ll go find my year eight dictionary…’ she muttered. It had been a fad during high school to teach yourself the AUSLAN alphabet from the back of the dictionary.

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘Brian is the one with the General complex, he thinks he’s in charge. When you get to be the one who’s been here the longest, you’ll feel that way too.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘How long is long?’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">‘Just on two years now. The others are Quart, Lee and Stag – used to be small time crooks, don’t listen when they talk big. And Red, well, his granddaddy was some sort of demon or spirit. Has a tendency to burn things when he’s being careless.’

<p style="color:rgb(189,190,190);font-family:Verdana,'CenturyGothic',Tahoma,sans-serif;line-height:normal;">He pointed to the paper targets. ‘So shoot already.’