Animalis Read Free

sergeant said. He turned to Hank. “You two knew each other before joining, huh?”
    Hank nodded. “Friends all through high school,” he said. “You can be sure that my notes for his certification will be entirely encomiastic.”
    The staff sergeant slapped Jax on the back and returned to the group of officers. Jax began walking back to the Hornet and Hank fell in beside him. Hank’s eyes were oscillating around in tight, random patterns, scrolling through loads of information in his retina monitor. He was probably looking at information about the fight, or communicating with the pro fighter he’d hired—who was likely wondering what had happened. Jax wasn’t sure if Hank would be madder at the idea of the fighter being incompetent, or Jax going against the plan. At least if the fighter had lost, they could loathe the man together.
    “Ruination, Jax, you lost,” Hank said.
    Jax looked over at him. Hank had a worried smirk with his chin still tucked under his collar. His eyebrows shot up and he met Jax’s glance. Jax looked away, not knowing what to say.
    At the end of the sparring field the path turned and joined a road running through the middle of the small base. They passed the armory and storehouse. Jax tilted his head up to gaze at the launch shaft of the airport disappearing into the clouds. It was a magnificent sight. The honey comb pattern of the beams started wide at the brightly lit base and rose up to the slender point a thousand feet in the air, like a giant had pinched the metal and dragged it into the sky.
    The view into the sky was cut off as they entered the hanger beside the launch shaft and continued walking toward the Hornet . The barracks, the mess hall, the officers quarters, and the command center were all part of the Hornet —a monstrous space plane with two pod bays, four turrets, and room to house forty men.
    “It’s hard to know either way, though. Maybe in their eyes, you did win,” Hank said, breaking the silence. They started ascending the stairs into the Hornet . “After he hit you in the groin? That earned you some prodigious creds. And you did it on your own.”
    Jax looked at him, feeling both hopeful and nervous: hopeful, because Hank hadn’t given any hint of lying that Jax might still pass certification, and nervous for what Hank was about to say.
    Hank nodded. “Yeah, I just got a message from the fighter I hired—says the connection was never paired. That was insensitive on my part, assuming he would fight better than you.” He slugged Jax in the shoulder.
    “I just hope it was enough,” Jax said. He was relieved to see Hank’s smile again. “I know I can do it. If the situation is real, that's when my instincts take over—“ Jax stopped, feeling his thoughts derail.
    As Hank had lowered his arm, Jax glimpsed a white logo on the shoulder of Hank’s coat: three horizontal white stripes. The design was common, a popular brand from before either of them were born, but seeing the whiteness reminded him of something.
    Black and white, swirling together, trapped behind bars. Like a dream quickly fading, the blurry image of a yin-and-yang came back to Jax. Yes … During the fight, someone had said his name. He shook his head. It felt like déjà vu now, slipping just out of his awareness. Had there really been someone speaking to him?
    Jax stopped walking and turned around. “Was there someone looking for me during the fight?”
    Hank stopped a few steps above Jax on the stairs and turned around. His smile bulged his freckled cheeks. “No. What, did you invite a girl I don’t know about?”
    Jax said nothing, trying to focus on remembering, and then something came to him.
    “Jax, save me!” the voice had said.
    ——
    It was late. Jax should have been in his bunk, but he couldn’t sleep. He stood in the hall in front of the pods. The walls were smooth and white, and radiated a soft light from diodes spread throughout their surfaces.
    He could see his reflection