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The DSCS-GANYMEDE rumbled through the fourth
dimension, the noise of the engines echoing inside its halls. The viewscreens to
the “outside” were all closed, minds of three dimensional creatures not
constructed to understand the fourth. Corporal Weston Kerchow did not enjoy
eating lunch during 4-D travel, as the closed viewscreens made the cafeteria
even more claustrophobic than it already was.
“And so I said to
him ‘No way I’m touching that banana!’” Sergeant Samuel laughed. “Hah! Get it?
The banana?”
Weston gave a
half-hearted smile, shrugging his shoulders. He kept staring at the plate.
“Aw come on,
Kerchow, what’s the deal? I come all the way down here to share a lunch with a
pal, and this is how I get treated?” Samuel asked in mock offense.
Weston could tell
Samuel was joking, but he wasn’t in the mood.
“I wish people would
stop mispronouncing my last name.” He muttered.
“Really? That’s what
got you down? Grow up, Weston! I pronounce it right. Kerchow. Kerrrr-cho.”
“I know that you can
say it Sam, but no one else can. No matter how many times I tell them!”
“Maybe you should
ask the captain to make a ship-wide announcement?”
“Are you kidding me?
I’d die of embarrassment. Who makes a ship wide announcement for something like
that?”
“What is this, high
school? Get a hold of yourself!”
Weston
groaned and hit his head on the table. The trip through the fourth dimension
would last another hour.
“Something
ain’t right with you, man.” Samuel shook his head. “What’s really grinding your gears?”
Weston
raised his head, looking around the cafeteria. Men and women sat at the tables,
eating and chatting. His eyes were drawn to the closed viewscreens. Beyond them
was what was only known as “the fourth dimension”. Although all “faster than
light” travel was done through it, no one actually knew what the strange medium
they were travelling through actually was. Samuel noticed Weston’s upward
glance.
“Four-Dee making you antsy?” He asked.
“It
creeps me out.” Weston admitted. “Haven’t you heard the stories?”
“Everyone’s
heard all the stories. You can’t breathe out there and you can’t look at it or
your brain fries. We’ve known this stuff for hundreds of years, Weston.”
“It’s
not only that. You know what happens when you stay in there too long, right?”
“Yeah,
man, I know.” Samuel rolled his eyes. “But we’ve got computers to calculate
that stuff now. We don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
“You
do know what happened, right? The time the Wheel sent a scout ship to straight
to Pallas from their homeworld? How it
came out all torn up?”
“Yeah,
I know.”
“And
the time that freighter pilot forgot to set his exit point, and came out all
crazy and babbling?”
“I
know, Weston.”
“Well
I’m just saying, what if the computer messes up, you know? We’ve been using
this place for hundreds of years and don’t know the slightest thing about it.”
Samuel
leaned over the table, clasping a hand on Weston’s shoulder.
“It’s
out of your hands either way. I try not to think about it too much.” He let go,
sitting back down in his chair.
“You
don’t think about anything too much.” Weston said. ”You’ve been here a lot
longer than I have and you’re still only a Sergeant. The way they promote these
days, you should be a Colonel at least.”
“I
find that NCOs have the perfect balance between survival rate and
responsibilities.”
“Heh.”
“Besides,
man.” Samuel said, checking at a digital clock hanging high on the cafeteria
wall. “You should be worried about what’s going down at Kaisari.”
Weston
looked at the clock.
“True.”
He said. “True.”
The Fourth Dimension sure is a creepy place. The mechanics and structure of it plays a big role over the course of the novel.
Tomorrow, I'll post a legitimate blog post about my legitimate life, along with another byte.
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