Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 42861 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42861 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
“Whoa!” A chorus of similar cries goes up as the first animal is unveiled for Tajik, head of our class. It’s a lion. An actual lion, and it moves with a powerful, prowling gait out from the chute and toward the explorer it will bond with. These animals are specially selected and trained for each of us; as long as we have been preparing for this moment, so have they. I am incredibly jealous. Some say that one’s support animal reflects their inner selves. Is Tajik a lion? I don’t know. I do know that no harm will come to Tajik.
Next out is a wolf, a stunning, lean predator. That goes to Nali. Again there is a general sound of awe and approval.
I watch as a parade of apex predators and hunting machines are joined with their new partners. Because Mike has me graduating bottom of the class, which is some bullshit, I’m the last to get mine. Nobody is really paying attention anymore. Most of them are too busy petting manes and pelts and fawning over their new animal partners.
I hear a clippety cloppety sound coming down the chute. That’s odd. Most of the animals moved nearly soundlessly on great paws. I don’t know what kind of wolf or maybe hyena would make that sound.
I’m looking too high. I have to lower my gaze to see what has been assigned to me. It’s not a lion, a tiger, a wolf, a shepherd dog. It’s not even an asthmatic puggle. It’s a goat. A little white goat with a big pink bow tied around her neck.
Meheheh!
A roar of laughter meets the sight of my support animal. She trots over to me, happily imprinted on me in the same way the other beasts are. She comes to my side and rubs her head on my leg. There’s a little tag in the bow with her name written on it: Strumpet.
Instructor Mike is grinning ear to ear. I’ve never seen that fucker so happy before. He’s finally gotten back at me. I’ve been saddled with this goat. Not even a big goat. Not even a billy goat with massive curled horns and a bad temper. I’ve got this little white goat with not much more than nubs extending from her head.
“What do you think of your animal partner, Jem?” He has a shit-eating grin. He wants me to be upset. I am upset. It’s not just that I didn’t get a super cool apex predator animal companion. It’s that her size and shape mean she’s not going to offer much in terms of protection the way most other animals are. This isn’t just a joke. This is a prank that puts my life at risk.
I reach down and cover Strumpet’s ears. “What is she going to do to help me, exactly?”
“Don’t worry, Jem,” he says. “You don’t need anyone or anything else anyway, do you. You can do this on your own.”
He’s mocking me. Still mad about the sandwich. It wasn’t even that good a sandwich.
What a fucking asshole. He’s prepared to let me fucking die on a distant planet because I annoyed him during training. What a petty bitch.
I mutter that under my breath as I leave the ceremony. I say mutter; I actually say it quite audibly. I know Mike heard it because he grabs me by the back of the suit and hauls me toward him. I see his hand open and coming toward me. He’s going to slap the shit out of me, I guess. And I don’t really have time to stop him. He’s holding me pretty well.
Before his hand can reach my face, he drops me and collapses in a crumpled heap. I am surprised to find myself standing over him as he grabs his crotch and curses in a high pitched whine I’ve never heard emit from him before.
It would seem that Strumpet has reared up and butted him right in the balls. Having done that, she’s now chewing at her bow, pulling it off her neck.
“Wow,” I say. “I guess she really will be useful. Thanks for the demonstration, Instructor Mike.”
I walk away, leaving him in the dirt. I’m done with training. I’m going to get my assignment.
That leads me to my current predicament.
Mike wasn’t wrong. I’m not suited to this as much as I should be. I shouldn’t have tried to move camp so quickly. I shouldn’t have packed all our medication into a single pack which I then threw into the river.
It takes exactly three days for my world to fall apart, and by world to fall apart, I mean for cramps and a bloody avalanche to ensue. Thank god I kept some painkillers back, so I’m able to take the edge off a little. I’ll survive this planet, but these fucking periods, I have no idea if I will survive them.