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Tanlen rushed down the narrow corridor until he reached Relv’s quarters. He clanged firmly against the steel door with a hydro-spanner.
“Get your scaled backside out here now Relv!” he demanded. It took two more rounds of bashing on the door before it finally opened. “This is not the day to be late for work shift Relv. They are loading the colonists onto the top levels this morning. Now get moving unless you want to get trampled.”
“I’m sorry,” replied Relv as he stepped past Tanlen and made his way gingerly down the corridor.
“Wait! You have not been late once in the past three months. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” said Relv and continued walking. Tanlen caught up to him and would not let it go.
“Listen kid we are about to go down into the drive core today to calibrate the gravity wave unit. If you are not going to be one hundred percent switched on then you are not going down there.”
“Ok already! Damn, it’s so embarrassing.”
“What?”
Relv carefully pulled up his shirt to reveal his stomach region. On its lower right side the skin was bright red and swollen in a roughly hexagonal shape.
“By the solar flares of Vaslus...your first belly plate? How old are you exactly?” asked Tanlen shaking his head.
“I’m 17,” replied Relv as he quickly covered up again.
“So you lied about your age when you joined up? Is that why you were trying to hide it?”
“No! I was trying to hide it because it’s embarrassing. I was selected to be accelerated through my study at the end of my first year at university. I just didn’t want everyone treating me like I’m a fledgling still just because my plates are still developing.”
Relv started down the corridor again and this time Tanlen followed him in thoughtful silence. As much as the kid annoyed the hell out of him with endless questions he was a fast learner and still as keen as hell to get in and get the job done. Perhaps it was time to cut him a little slack, just a little.
“I want you to understand something very clearly Relv. This job we do is critical. We have everyone’s lives in our hands every time we jump. My being hard on you has nothing to do with your age. I have to be hard with you because we have no room for mistakes.”
“I’m sorry. It’s probably just the hormones. I promise I will be focused for the full work shift. Please let me see the drive core.”