Animalis Read Free Page A

in the window to the vacuum chamber of the first pod. The face looked confident. Jax’s crisp, strong features and thin brown eyes looked older than most seventeen-year-olds—with their unwearied faces. This was just the start of his military career, but he had been pushed forward because of his physical abilities … and his commitment to never quit.
    He was a good complement to Hank, who had excelled for intellectual prowess. Hank had blazed through academy and straight into a commanding position as warrant officer. In high school, Hank was the one planning pranks to reprogram the walls of the school to play movies, and Jax was the one that climbed onto the roof and found openings in the skylight to get in at night. Hank had even found a way to hack the city traffic control, and subsequently sent all of the teachers’ cars to a meat-packing plant instead of the high school one day. Hank had also designed the fighting suit that would have controlled Jax’s body during the fight, and apparently it was selling for 1,600 United Credits on the 3D print design market. A year of Jax’s salary per print. Hank had to be rich.
    A message blinked in Jax’s retina monitor as a little translucent box, glowing orange in the air beside the pod door. He gave a mental gesture to display the message. He stepped back, grabbed a ceiling handhold, and watched the message expand to be read.
     
    9-25-2093: Jax Minette. After careful review of your enrollment records, and having evaluated your test with high marks, your request to fill the position of pod pilot aboard the Hornet under the command of Warrant Officer Hank Schneps and Captain Jesus Hernandez has been approved. Call sign Catcher 6. Report to Officer Schneps at 0400 hours.
     
    Jax let out his breath slowly and the glass window clouded with moisture. He took another deep breath and smiled.
    When he turned to leave the hall he would now be reporting to regularly, he felt the pain of the fight return. Each step sent a stab into his stomach … but it was worth it. Like old times , he thought. Him and Hank. They would send a tremor of fear through the ranks of the militant Animalis.

Chapter 2
    Animalis
     
    “Let me be clear: if you don’t make it out in thirty minutes, you’ll blow up with the rest of the plane.” The life-size image of Captain Hernandez’s head and torso focused an intense gaze at the small crew. On the wall, colored diodes and microscopic electromagnets rearranged to form a vivid, textured replica of the man for the video call—like an animated Roman relief sculpture in full color. His bare scalp glistened, reflecting the light emanating from the walls around him in the cockpit of the Hornet.
    Captain Jesus Hernandez spoke with a soft Hispanic accent. At age fifty, war and stress had conspired together, leaving his face as cratered as an asteroid. His left ear had been torn in a previous battle, and Jax couldn’t help looking at it. He and his fellow soldiers stood in the pod bay hall, facing the wall opposite the vacuum chambers. Jax stood with Hank, with the other two pot pilots, Maven and Felix, a short distance away, listening intently to the captain.
    Jax glanced at the clock displayed in the top right of his vision:
     
    05:32.
     
    Somewhere in the plane, a valve hammered open and sent a hollow echo through the floor and into Jax’s feet. The quiet hiss of the electric motors died. He could feel the liquid-fueled rockets rumble to life, ready to push the Hornet through the last thin layer of atmosphere.
    “The Animalis space plane appears to have lost its maneuvering capabilities,” Captain Hernandez continued, “and is unable to reenter the atmosphere without bursting into flames. It’s a small-sized cargo plane, only within our concern because it is so close to US airspace.”
    “Only thirty minutes?” Felix interrupted. “How close are we to being orbital?”
    The captain waited in silence once Felix had finish speaking. Felix opened his