Empire's Son: An Epic Science Fiction Novel Series

"Name?" came the clipped response from the man in the dark brown uniform.

It took me by surprise. I had been standing in that damn line for over an hour, and sweat pouring off every surface of me. I was really missing the environmental regulation of my other clothes. What I was wearing definitely didn't have that capability, and it didn't help that it seemed to be the hottest part of the day.

"Jasper Ruloc," I said after a little too long of a hesitation.

My brain had to fumble for the right name. I was tired, hot, and slow, and all I really wanted was a nice cool drink and an ice-cold shower. You'd think they'd at least provide a beverage to everyone waiting in the line that snaked across the front of the five buildings down from the residence hall. Maybe one of the nice blue ones I had with Master Kiev in what felt like forever ago, but was only just this morning. Though I saw some of those in the line had been smart enough to bring their own drinks. I guess Markus had forgotten a minor detail in all his elaborate planning.

Most of the civilians also had large packs slung across their backs or resting at their feet like they'd brought most of their belongings with them. It made me feel a little conspicuous, but I spotted a handful of others who had come with no possessions at all, like myself. So I wasn't totally the odd man out.

The Pledge with the data pad scrolled through what looked like a long list of names, and I wondered how many people would be enrolled in the College today. It seems like hundreds, though it might have just felt that way because of my long and hot wait. I also hoped my fake name was on the list. Markus said Pledge Tau-mine had me all signed up, but right now, with the heavy feeling of heat exhaustion creeping on fast, I was having terrifying visions of the Pledge figuring out I was a fraud and arresting me on the spot.

The man stopped as he came to a name and highlighted it. "Welcome to the Protectorate. Disciple Harmon has your welcome packet. In it, you will find your College identity chip, and a unity ring and tablet for College use only. If you lose or break any of them, you are responsible for replacement. Is that understood?"

I nodded, because I had heard this spiel dozens of times already as he addressed everyone in front of me. I was impressed that the Pledge could repeat it so often and not vary the words even a little bit. He was clearly on automatic operation. It seemed like a crappy job for someone who was supposed to be near the end of the Program.

I then walked to the Disciple, who handed me my brown packet, and then I could finally step into the much cooler building. I gave a sigh of relief at the almost instant change of temperature.

"Next!" I heard the irritated voice of a female before me.

I walked further into the wide open foyer and almost stopped in my tracks to find the familiar face of Pledge Sasseni. I knew I might run into someone I had already met. The College was big, but not that big. I just wasn't expecting it to be so soon, or to be her, of all people. My heart picked up as I continued toward the Pledge, but at a much slower walk, which only seemed to irritate her more.

"You are holding up the line, newbie. Get a move on!" She snapped at me.

I noticed that the person behind me in line had finished up and was coming up right behind. So I picked up my speed until I was standing directly in front of the woman.

She didn't even look at me as she consulted her tablet. "Barracks four just filled up, so you are in barracks five, bed one. That's all the way to the back. Make sure you put on your uniform and are in the main assembly arena in thirty-three minutes. Don't be late. Next!"

I was already a distant memory, if I had registered with her at all. As I walked away, I sighed with relief that she hadn't recognized me. Though I was thinking my own parents might not know me with this identity modifier on. I had to admit, this was pretty freaking cool!

It took me a minute to come back to my surroundings. I was looking for Barracks Five, and I found it pretty easily. There were eight different smaller archways leading off from the former, and they were all numbered at the top of the arch. I picked five and went right in.

The room was one long, wide hall with beds lining each side every two feet. Between each bed was a tall cabinet that stood ajar. I could see a light brown uniform hanging in each at the top and a set of drawers at the bottom. I walked down the line of beds and quickly noticed the numbers on the wall at the head of each bed. I was glad they had everything clearly marked, so there was no confusion, but I wasn't happy to see that there were fifty beds in this one room.

I had only ever shared a room with another person once in my life, and that had been when I had gone to college. It had been a disaster from the beginning. The roommate assigned to me was a total slob, was up all hours of the night, snored so loud when he did sleep he rattled the one window we had, and he kept gassing up the place with farts that smelled suspiciously like stale Cheetos. I hadn't been ashamed at all to pull the My-Dad-Is-The-CEO-OF-A-Muti–Billion–Dollar company card after only two weeks of total misery. I had gotten my own room after that. And so, my excitement for my little adventure took a significant dip as I wandered down the line of beds.

"This is going to suck," I muttered under my breath as I finally found bed one. It really was at the very back of the room. In a dark corner. Well, at least I had a solid, drab wall on one side.

"Ah, it's no worse than being on a space freighter nine months of the year with thirty in close crew quarters. In fact, this is a bit roomer, I think." The big mountain of a man who had been in line behind me the entire time I had been melting and waiting my turn, threw his large pack on the bed next to mine.

My face must have shown my puzzlement, and the big man answered my unspoken question. "I was with Galactic Exports for eight years. Decided I had had enough space travel for a few lifetimes and wanted to do something planet-side. Besides, it's not so easy for a big man like me to fit into some of those haulers. I suspect they make them microscopic because they think it's funny to see us exporters squeeze in there together."

I nodded to make him think I understood exactly what he was talking about, but I'd only been on battle cruisers so far, so I didn't know how it compared, and I wasn't going to say that. Then I'd have to explain why I had been on battle cruisers. But I knew what Galactic Exports was. That was one thing Dur-rele had gone over when he'd talked about the main areas of trade and who oversaw them.

All trade across the Empire was overseen by the Kings. Certain Kingdoms had control over specific trade and exports, depending on what their own planets were rich in. But the ones who were actually responsible for handling the hauling and shipping of goods were outsourced to a coalition of pooled resources by the Kingdoms called Galactic Exports. This organization then hired people to secure the goods, load them up into ships, and transport them to the appropriate destination. It was basically Earth's version of merchant marines, but in space.

"So instead of being squeezed to death on a spaceship, you chose to come to a desert planet and sweat to death?" I said.

The big man before me, who stood almost two heads taller than myself and had enough muscle that made him look like he could bench a small truck, threw his head back and laughed a great belly laugh that seemed to vibrate the air around me. It took a moment for him to calm down enough to speak, and for me to reel in the overwhelming feeling of intimidation caused by his mere presence. "I like that. You are a funny man."

I grinned warily at him. I didn't think it that funny, but to each their own.

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He then placed a meaty hand flat on the middle of his chest and gave a slight nod. Again, I was glad for Dur-rele's lessons, because he had spent a long time on the proper way to greet people in Ethia, and even had me practicing it. There was the way people would greet someone of higher station like myself with a fist to heart, or most often, a bow. Then there was the everyday normal greeting with a simple palm to chest and a nod of the chin. I had asked, and apparently, Ethians didn't do handshaking.

"I am Hotoe Shem of Vaxian."

I had never heard of Vaxian, but I mentally flagged it to look it up later. I copied the other man with a palm to the middle of my chest and a nod. "I am Jasper Ruloc of Frillnax."

The big man raised one of his red bushy eyebrows. "Frillnax, huh?" He leaned in close like he was going to tell me something secret, except we were still the only others in the room. "I'd keep that last part to yourself if I were you." He then gave me a hard eye, as if he were examining me closely. "You aren't crazy, are you?"

Markus had warned me I might run into this, because apparently those actually born on the planet had a track record for weirdness, to the point of being considered mentally ill in many cases. Exactly what that meant, Markus hadn't felt the need to elaborate on. But I had planned accordingly.

I leaned in close to the man, as if I were sharing his secret. "Not me. I wasn't actually born there. Just raised in the home for misplaced children. I'm an off-worlder, and that was just the home I was assigned to."

Hotoe nodded sagely. "Ah, that's bad luck then, but at least you didn't get their messed-up genes. I suppose you've got that going for you then. It is nice to meet you, Jasper Ruloc, who isn't really from Frillnax."

I smiled at the other man. "And it's nice to meet you, Hotoe Shem, from Vaxian and of Galactic Exports."

The other man waved a hand. "Call me Hotoe, and I'm not an exporter anymore. Now I'm soon to be a Cadet in the Protectorate. Life is looking up."

"That it is."

Hotoe turned to open his pack and put his things in the closet.

By this time, a few others had wandered into the room and filled the beds down from us. I was surprised to see a woman taking a bed across from me. I hadn't realized this would be co-ed, but then I was finding Ethians did a lot of things I didn't expect. She didn't say a word to either Hotoe or I as she brushed past us and flung her pack on the bed, went right to the closet to pull out the uniform, and then started to undress.

Jesus.

I turned around abruptly to give her some privacy, but Hotoe didn't. He just stood there and got an eyeful, and grinned like a little kid who just got his favorite toy.

"So you think she'll let us take turns," he said with a conspiring whisper, which wasn't much of a whisper, and I was sure she could hear it. Her bed wasn't that far away.

I froze, not sure how to respond to that. Hotoe slapped me on the back like he was trying to get my attention, so I wouldn't miss the fun. I decided to go over to my closet and pull out the uniform waiting there for me.

A light brown that was more khaki than tan coat and pants hung on hooks, while a black long-sleeved shirt and a pair of dark brown boots sat on the bottom shelf. I took out the pants and gave them a good look. I could already tell they were going to be too small.

I turned back to Hotoe, who was still ogling our lady roommate. Thankfully, she was already dressed in the pants and a black shirt. I guess I had missed the show.

"What do we do if the uniform doesn't fit?" I asked Hotoe, showing him my pair of pants that looked like they might fit a person half my size. What? Were they expecting kids to be signing up as Cadets?

Hotoe gave me a strange look. "What do you mean? Is the tab broken?"

"What?"

The big man came over, reached down the waist of the pants I was holding up with a meaty hand, and pulled at something. A moment later, I could feel the cloth moving under my hands. "No, not broken." He narrowed his eyes at me. "Are you sure you didn't get any of those Frillnax genes?"

I felt my face redden. Damn. I had no idea. All the Ethian clothes I had worn until now had always fit perfectly. I guess others had resized everything for me. Well, except for the clothes I wore now. Did they have resize tags too and Markus just assumed I knew and didn't bother to tell me? He had had a lot on his mind.

Hotoe pulled his hand back, and now I could see the thumb-sized white tag in the waistband of the pants. I pulled at it, and again the waist grew in size.

"I must have been pulling it wrong. Thanks," I muttered.

I looked at the legs, and they were still very short, but I decided I'd fumble around with the pants myself to see what I had to pull to get them to grow longer. For the time being, I kept working with the tab to get the waist closer to what I thought would fit. I had to admit, this was a really fantastic way to make clothes.

"You are into men, then?"

"What?" I asked, confused, and then it dawned on me what he was talking about. "Well, I errr… I prefer females."

"Then why not look? She has a nice rear end."

I blinked at the other man, as I felt completely out of my league here. Was this Hotoe just being a clueless male, or was this an actual Ethian behavior? I know the woman had heard Hotoe's comments, but she acted like she didn't care. Most women I knew on Earth would have been highly offended and said something. Hell, I knew a few that would have knocked his teeth out, or at least tried to. Hotoe was not a small man.

And yet, she'd obviously been assigned this room with the opposite sex, so that implied to me that Ethians viewed the interaction of men and women differently than I was used to. I suddenly wished Dur-rele had hit the topic of Ethian's standing on men, women, and sex. Though, I got a feeling I was going to get a crash course. Lovely.

"Where I come from, it's not polite to stare," was the best I could come up with.

"Frillnax customs are very strange. Let us hope she thinks you like men, or she might get offended that you didn't look."

So, was that how this went? I looked over at the woman as she was now fully clothed in her uniform and currently stuffing her pack on the bottom shelf of her cabinet. Emotionally, I wasn't getting much from her, but that wasn't a surprise. Usually, I had to be in an actual conversation with a person to get a hit off them. But by her demeanor, it was like she was all business and didn't have time for any foolishness.

I decided maybe she was right. I still needed to figure out a way to resize the legs and make sure the rest of my uniform fit, and then get over to the assembly arena. I was glad that Kiev had given me the tour, and I knew where to find it, but I also knew I'd wasted a lot of time talking with my new friend. So I messed around with my pants some more.

After a few more minutes, I had them sized to fit. I found that if I gave the tab in the waist a twist; it made the legs longer. So I shucked off my pants and pulled the uniform ones on. As I did, I could distinctly feel eyes on my backside. I looked around to see Hotoe giving me a wide grin, like he had the woman. I quickly pulled my pants up and tried not to blush. I'm not sure how well I succeeded with the second. I turned around and reached for the black shirt on the shelf.

"You have a fine rear end too, Jasper." Hotoe said as I turned around.

"Thanks," I said as I reached for the shirt, trying my best to look busy and uninterested in the other man.

"See. That is how you properly compliment someone."

"I appreciate the lesson." I replied as I worked with the shirt like I had with the pants. There was a small tab just inside the collar. Pulling it made the opening of the shirt wide, and twisting lengthened the sleeves.

I paused before pulling off my ratty grey shirt as I remembered the identity modifier on my chest and the Zahn family crest branded in bold black on my right shoulder. I looked around and noticed that Hotoe was working to resize his own pants. The woman had left, and the six others in the room seemed too busy to notice me.

Even so, I turned myself so my chest was facing the corner of the room with my right shoulder angled toward the wall. I shucked my shirt off and quickly grabbed for the black one. I breathed a sigh of relief once I was covered once more, and checked again just to make sure no one saw anything they weren't supposed to. It looked like I was in the clear. It was something I would have to be cautious about in the future, and planned future changes in the bathroom if at all possible.

A short time later, I stood completely dressed in my new uniform, including boots, which adjusted to my feet after slipping them on. Hotoe was now dressed, too. He had a scowl on his face; I think, because I hadn't given him a good look at his backside when he dressed, or a compliment. Even though he had given me an eyeful while I was getting my boots on. I just hoped this wasn't going to become a thing. I liked this guy so far, and I really didn't want to piss him off.

"I suppose we should ask where this assembly place is?" Hotoe said as we started to walk down the aisle of beds.

Most of the room was empty now. Everyone who had come in had quickly stowed their belongs, dressed and left just like the woman roommate. Hotoe and I had certainly taken the longest to get ready.

"I know where it is," I said.

He looked with a raised eyebrow. "You have been here before?"

"No," I blurted. I didn't want to give him the wrong impression. "I just got here a little early and walked around before getting in line to get my bearings. The assembly field isn't far. I'll show you."

Hotoe grinned and slapped me on the back. "I suppose you aren't so Frillnax after all."

I gave him a smile and led the way out of the room, thinking how very interesting my day had been so far, and I couldn't help but wonder how much more interesting it was going to get.