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she’d been fascinated by blue light ever since she’d
returned from that rather ill-fated mission to the barren Remus
12.
    It had
been several days now, and she had made a complete recovery.
Somehow, some precious how, she had fallen over in the dark,
cracked a rib, sprained an ankle, given herself a severe
concussion, and cut her fingers and cheek.
    She
still didn't remember how she'd done it though.
    All
she could recall about that day was being sent back to the compound
by Sharpe after she’d led Blake to the mysterious stairs. Then she
recalled nothing until she remembered waking up on-board the
Orion.
    Everyone was sure she had just fallen over, and to be fair,
she was one of them. She knew first-hand how clumsy she could be,
and considering she had already broken a scanner that day on the
planet by tripping over a rock, it wasn't so much of a stretch to
imagine she had broken herself by tripping over another
rock.
    . . . .
    So she
tried to ignore the lights. Those flashes of blue.
    It was
just her memory playing tricks on her.
    Concluding that, she got back to the important task of
ignoring the lecture.
    While
the cadet next to her had a rather rapt look of attention on his
face, she did not, and she couldn't muster the energy required to
try.
    Sharpe
already knew she was a complete disaster when it came to the use of
her telekinetic implant.
    Whilst
everybody in her class had moved on from coffee cups to actual
weapons, she hadn't, and she never would.
    She
didn't, apparently, have the concentration and control for
it.
    Telekinetic implants worked by allowing you to control certain
objects that had been impregnated with a specialised magnetic
material. The implant was hooked up to your central nervous system
and right into your motor cortex. With just a thought, you could
command the implant to put out a field and manipulate any material
nearby with that necessary specialised magnetic substance
inside.
    It was
incredible technology, and was one of the reasons the Galactic
Coalition Academy had become as powerful as it was.
    It
couldn't be used everywhere, though, and it certainly couldn't be
used on anything; implants only worked on objects that had the
right magnetised material in them.
    Feeling satisfied that she clearly already knew everything she
needed to, Nida indulged in closing her eyes and forced a quiet,
careful breath.
    Then
she waited, listening with only half an ear as the lecture
continued. In another hour, it was over.
    She
carefully and discretely made her way out of the back entrance,
hoping that Sharpe wouldn't have the time to race around and catch
her.
    He
didn't, and with a small, satisfied smile, she hurried along the
corridor.
    In
fact, she ran so fast she rounded the corner before checking to see
if anyone was coming from the other direction.
    Someone was, and she bumped straight into him.
    Swearing softly, she jolted back, then looked up to see none
other than Carson Blake.
    He
blinked at her, muttered sorry, then moved to walk off. Then he
stopped. “Hold on, you're Cadet Harper, from the mission to planet
Remus 12,” his pupils widened with clear interest.
    She
winced. “Yes, that would be me. Are you going to get me in trouble
for losing your scanner?” she babbled quickly, searching for a
reason to explain his sudden interest.
    “My
scanner . . . oh, yeah, we did leave that
behind, didn't we?” He looked thoughtful as he muttered a soft
“ha.”
    She
breathed a sigh of relief when she realised he wasn't about to add
another complaint against her to Commander Sharpe.
    “How
are you?” he asked with genuine interest.
    She
blinked back her surprise. Why did he care? She was just a walking
accident and the worst recruit in 1000 years, and he was Carson
Freaking Blake.
    He
smiled at her encouragingly.
    He
didn’t look like he was acting, and with a quick look around her,
she realised there was no one around he could be trying to impress
by compassionately asking after