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C J Busby [Deep Amber 01] Deep Amber (retail) (epub)
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.You did.I pointed out.And the voice didn’t even have eyes.BY YOUR THOUGHTS ONLY.I got the impression he was laughing at me.Movement drew my attention outward again.The female admiral (I am guessing since she also had a gold diamond on her uniform collar) indicated that Admiral Knight walk with her to what I guess was her office in the back.Life returned to normal for the rest of the officers.The voice’s presence began to fade, but not before he said cryptically WE WILL MEET AGAIN, I’M SURE.I was alone again with the officer who had a strange obsession with footwear and somehow I had to explain why I was bootless without giving the true reason.And while I was at it, I had to convince them to let me join the Academy.Fun times… Nothing like lying by omission during your first interview.I turned back to the officer to whom I had been speaking.Her green eyes were narrowed again.“You still here?” She said in disgusted surprise.I nodded.“Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked her in return.Her cat eyes widened.“I was sent here.You are holding the letter that strongly advises that I be at least given a chance to be admitted.I ask that I simply be given a chance to live up to the recommendation.”The officer’s eyes narrowed.If she didn’t stop doing that she was going to be stuck with squinty eyes.“You are correct.I am holding a letter of recommendation.One for a colonist, of all things, named Rylynn of Colony Lenti.However, we were given a heads up by Captain Wingstar.In which he gave a description of the person we were to expect.And while you do have the same height, dark hair, and gray eyes that was in the description, you do not have the boots that were loaned.Nor are you in the company of Ensign Trin.”I sighed and leaned casually on the counter which, to my satisfaction, made her back up a tad.“The reason why Ensign Trin has not escorted me here was because he decided I should get lost.Mostly because he didn’t think that a colonist should be given a chance to join the Academy.Imagine, an ensign deciding something that should be left to his superior officers…” I shook my head.“I pointed out to him that may not be the most appropriate action of someone given a direct order by his captain.After that, he graciously gave me directions to this place and even offered to be seen escorting me to it, but by then I decided that I would rather find it on my own then have someone who had already proven untrustworthy with me.” I shrugged at her look and softened my voice.“Trust, where I am from, is something earned and worth more than all the money and prestige that could possibly exist in the empire.Once lost, it is hard to regain.Because, where I am from, you have t09o be careful of whom you trust.Trust the wrong person and it could be a knife in your back.Especially since the war going on has depleted much of the resources in the cities.I’m sure you can see where I am coming from.”“There is no war.” She said stiffly.I raised an eyebrow at her.“You would think that, but then, you haven’t seen Telmicks stomping through your streets cutting down people who had the misfortune of being in the way.Nor have you seen the destruction of a once thriving city with its people becoming little more than thieves, because that is the only way to survive.There is nowhere safe within the walls and getting out is like playing a hardcore version of cat and mouse.If found and lucky, you are killed on the spot.If found and unlucky, you are tortured for who knows how long.But you are right, officially there is no war because certain interests have not been touched.”Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that everyone in the office was staring at me.I continued, ignoring them.“But that is neither here nor there.I made my own way here, though I was worried that I would have to disregard the directions because of the detour through the darkened halls of this station.But lo and behold, they proved to be right on the money anyway.Which makes me wonder if the whole point of the detour is to test the conviction of the person wanting to join the Academy.“But you wanted to know about the boots.The honest truth is this, the boots were too loud.And in a darkened hallway where my eyesight was next to none, I had to take off the boots so I wouldn’t alert every possible hostile of my approach.” I laughed self-deprecatingly.“It was, perhaps, a bit over kill, but at the time I hadn’t known what I would have found around the next corner.So I left the boots behind in favor of having both hands ready to swing the crowbar I found just in case I came across someone meaning me harm.I felt I had to choose between fashion and survival.And, to be frank with you, survival will always win over fashion.”“And she is a mean one with a crowbar, as ensigns Edwin and Sven can attest.” A voice said from the back of the room.I frowned and turned to see the female admiral.“Admiral L’Seral!” The cat-eyed officer straightened along with everyone else in the room.I pushed away from the desk and turned to face her.The woman was smiling.“At ease.” She said coming forward.I studied her, not sure if I should do something like the others.Having no clue I looked down, but I did study her from under my lashes.I was getting quite accomplished at that.“And she did have boots at that point.” The admiral continued before focusing her attention on me.I definitely remembered her eyes.“You were the old woman.” I said.“The one who was being attacked by the Comic Book thugs.”She laughed.“I had never heard anyone call those lads a name like that.It was a novel experience for them too, I’m sure.Come, I wish to speak with you.”“But ma’am!” The cat-eyed officer protested before she could stop herself.She still had my letter of recommendation in her hand.Admiral L’Seral raised a steel brow at her before nodding.“You are right, lieutenant.I’ll take her letter, thank you.” She said taking the well-traveled paper from the baffled lieutenant.She then turned and walked back toward her office in the back.I hesitated for a moment before following her.I wasn’t sure where the other admiral, Admiral Knight, had gone.Are you still nearby? I mentally called.If the voice answered then I had a possible problem on my hands.That of course being that the voice had been wrong and the admiral had recognized me and now I was in danger.I didn’t get a response even as I walked into the office in the back.The wood that had served as trim in the front office had decided to take over here.The result was a homelier atmosphere.It wasn’t a terribly large office, but it wasn’t small either.An ‘L’ shaped desk and several comfy chairs were able to fit comfortably in the room without being cramped.Instead of sitting behind the desk as I had assumed, Admiral L’Seral sat in one of the chairs and gestured for me to sit as well.“It is not often for someone to realize that the detour is a test of sorts until later.Mostly because there is an escort who comes along.” She began.“I only realized that it had to be a test when the directions had been perfect, even though I should have been past them.” I admitted.I tilted my head.“Is the main test always someone being mugged?”“Not always.Since you passed with flying colors, even making sure that the victim made it to safety even though they had said that they could make it on their own…” My brows rose as I realized she had noticed.But then, it was a test so it would figure they would have some way of recording it.Admiral L’Seral nodded with a smile as if she had guessed what thoughts were behind my reaction.She continued.“…Let us discuss your departure for the main Academy.” I stilled and she noticed.“Is something wrong?”I opened my mouth, closed it then said [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]