The Next Day

When they woke up the next morning, it was actually night on the moon of the NB011, but their London time clocks said it was 8 in the morning. Lupus felt well rested and the kids got out of their sleeping bags. All of the other rooms on base were still very cold due to the heating being offline and the ship was still powered down until the end of the refueling. Because of these circumstances Lei Mei was in no mood for cooking up a fancy breakfast.

She got everyone instant noodles, which she found in the food crates, prepared some hot water and that's it. Nobody complained, they brought a few tables and chairs into their nicely heated up and warm room where they slept and sat to chow down.

While slurping the noodles Hitomi raised her head and said to everyone, "If any of you, ever mentions yesterday to make fun of me, I will knock out all of your teeth. The Hitomi nice era will be over."

"Nobody will make fun of you, there is no need to worry," Brigham patted her back.

"Anyways," Hitomi continued slurping her noodles, "I am going to pretend yesterday night never happened and so should all of you."

With breakfast over, the only thing left for the students was to wait and so they waited for the refill process for the ship to finish. They hung around the base, talking and exploring a bit more of some of the rooms but most stayed in their heated small room where they slept.

Brigham looked out the window in the main room from which he directed Roy and Ana's movements. Deep in thought, Curro interrupted him by poking him.

"Watcha doin'," Curro asked smiling at his best friend.

"Just thinking," Brigham said still looking through the window.

"About what?"

"About last night's talk session before bed. About everyone's parents, I wondered how much of the person you are today is determined by your parents and how much of you is made of your personal character. I always thought I was my own individual, my desire to change the world, and to join the military was never something that was instructed to me by my parents. I always thought that came purely from me but at the same time it might be something I want to do, the values they taught me did still make me who I am today."

Curro scratched his head, "What brought this on?"

"It's just how much can I be mad at someone like Ljubiša for stealing when he is like that because of his parents." Brigham stretched and turned to Curro. "How much of it is his fault? Hitomi being so mean is it really her fault for having the life she had?"

"I don't know it's hard to say," Curro shrugged. "What about someone like Emidio? He was led to being the heir of the Solatium corporation, yet he still rejected it. I guess it depends on the person."

"Maybe," Brigham crossed his arms, "I started thinking what if Emidio rejected his father's wishes just because he was being forced into it or was it something he would have rejected as a career path regardless. You know I feel like it's really hard to escape and heal from a bad childhood or bad traits you inherit from your parents. I wonder how much you are you, without your upbringing."

The two stood there thinking about Brigham's rambles, neither had a concrete answer.

***

Elsewhere on the base, Emidio was rereading one of Mok's files, a detail caught his eye earlier and he wanted to reexamine it. In the hectic chaos of the Hrkar vs Yugoslav space station debate, he didn't have time to give this file his full attention.

Halfway into his reading, the white-haired boy was interrupted by Ana. She approached him and said: "Can I talk to you for a second? Alone?"

Emidio at first had his guard up, was this another one of her lectures for Emidio's lack of hard work. He decided to hear her out, surely she wasn't going to start a fight after everyone's vulnerable details about their background.

"Listen I came to say I am sorry," Ana said standing at attention as if Emidio was a superior officer, her demeanor was a bit funny but he tried not to laugh as she was serious. "I bullied you a lot for not giving it your all and for thinking you were so weak. Several times I said you weren't a real man and I thought you were a spoiled little brat. I am really sorry I ever said all of those things."

"Um… I accept the apology," Emidio was taken aback. "Why this now?"

"Yesterday when you talked about your father, I had no idea that you were forced into the military. I thought you were just here to collect the benefits the military gives you and you are in the school solely on the back of bribes by your father. I didn't know you never asked for this and I never should have assumed that you had it easy just because your father is rich. All of us go through our own struggles, some of them are bigger and some of them are smaller but they are still our struggles that others often aren't aware of. It is unfair to judge without the full picture."

Ana cleared her throat and said with embarrassment, "Actually, I admire you. I admire the courage it took to stand up to your father and reject the life of a businessman he was forcing you into. I also think it's amazing that despite being forced into this you still know what you want to do. You have an ambition to be an artist, and that's your ambition.

I never stood up to my mom nor did I ever give much thought to what I wanted. I started thinking about why I was in this academy, did I just fall under her pressure, and sign up for this school just cause she wanted it. Will I later figure out that this is something I don't want? While I can kick your ass in a fight, physical strength isn't the only kind of strength. It turns out you are a much stronger person than I ever was. So there." Ana looked away.

Emidio's cheeks turned red from embarrassment, "I admire you too Ana, I think you are tremendously hard-working, I am not even a tenth as hard-working as you are about the things I am passionate about like drawing. It feels weird to say, but whenever I want to draw something, I always think I have to bring the same spirit you bring for school and the military. I am sorry I called you a cow and other mean things." Emidio extended his pinky, "Friends?"

"Friends!" Ana extended her pinky too and the two made up.

***

With the 18 hours finally passed, the ship was ready for travel. Lupus boarded their vessel and they set sail in the dark void known as the cosmos, towards their next destination.

The Yugoslav Space Station, Lepoglava, was a 10-day voyage. What kind of new perils and challenges awaited Lupus? The culprit and their motives remained a mystery…