33 Steal the Thunder

It was time for the Flight Simulation class where the students were divided into several teams; each team containing of students from all three years. And each group would take turn to go into the Simulated Voyages. After each class, they were required to submit a report describing what went right, what went wrong, what could have been done better, etc.

It had become a ritual for Natalia and Liam to meet each other in the Simulation class and share some talks and laughs before the Simulation started. And as usual Alexis would leave them alone and head towards the main cabin.

Alexis, Natalia, Liam, and Jimmy were in the same group in the Simulation with several other students. Jimmy was one of the talented second year students, which was why he would normally act as a captain or a lieutenant.

As usual, Jimmy was standing beside the captain's seat in the main cabin and was waiting for Alexis. Simulation class was starting to be the highlight of his day because he could do what he loved and he could also talk to Alexis.

When Alexis entered the main cabin, she was instantly greeted by a familiar voice, "Hey Alexis, good to see you." Jimmy was smiling and waving at Alexis. Alexis smiled back and greeted, "It's good to see you too, Jimmy."

Alexis went forward to take the co-pilot's seat. Normally, the conversation would end here but today Alexis turned around to see Jimmy and asked something. "Umm... hey, I don't know if you know this or not; but the Court hearing is on this Monday. Are you coming?"

Jimmy pursed his lips for a while and then replied, "Actually, Mina and I already broke up. I heard that she was in jail. I hope it will be for her own good."

"I hope it's good for you too, I guess." Alexis awkwardly smiled and then turned back to her position.

After the class ended, Jimmy approached Alexis and asked, "Alexis, I was wondering if you were free tonight? I wanted to catch up with you."

When Jimmy said this, a few other girls were also interested in that conversation and were now eavesdropping on them. Jimmy was a good-looking man and also a "captain" so it was only natural for girls to be interested in him.

Alexis's eyes widened a bit in surprise. "Is he asking me out on a date? Is this how boys ask for a date? This is so confusing." Alexis was lost in her thoughts. Then she realized that she had zoned out and Jimmy was still waiting for her answer. So she quickly replied, "I would love to but I already have plans for tonight. Or more like every night. I have to go to a part-time job, sort of."

"You're not even free on Sundays?" Jimmy seemed really interested now.

This conversation was getting really awkward for Alexis. This was the first time that someone had ever dared to approach Alexis and asked her for a date, or was it even a date? She was not sure. "Er… I don't know it yet. I'll be joining from today. I… I'll let you know."

"Sure." Jimmy smiled at Alexis and then said, "I hope the hearing goes well for you" before leaving the main cabin.

Alexis exhaled a sigh of relief when Jimmy left her alone. She kept on staying there and was trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened. But she was soon interrupted by Natalia who had come to pick her up. "Hey! Why are you still sitting here? Lexi, I was waiting for you outside. Come on, let's go. We have to go to The Harper's."

Alexis and Natalia booked a cab from outside the Academy. And in no time, they arrived at The Harper's which was located in P-99 Street. As Natalia had told Alexis before, The Harper's really looked like a junkyard. Alexis used to think that Natalia was exaggerating it because she didn't like working there, but she never thought that she was speaking the truth.

Natalia quickly walked inside and gestured Alexis to follow her. As they entered inside the gate, they could see a huge land filled with scraps of the spaceships. At one corner, there was a large makeshift room; most probably it was the office. Natalia led the way to that room.

There was an old man, who seemed to be in his mid-sixties, working with some tools on a large metal plate. They could see no one else around. Natalia greeted the man as soon as she entered the room, "Hey, Mr. Harper. How are you?"

Mr. Harper turned around to see Natalia with another girl of her own age. "What a surprise! If it isn't our champion, Natalia!" He went on and gave a friendly hug to Natalia. "Well I'm still alive, how are you dear?"

"I'm good. So, how's business doing?" Natalia looked around again before asking, "Didn't you hire another part-timer after I left?"

Harper looked disappointed at his current situation. "I would love have loved to, but nobody is interested to work in this junkyard except you." He looked at Natalia with hopeful eyes, "I hope you came back for the job. And who is this young lady? Is she also interested for the job?"

"Oh! She's my best friend Alexis." She turned towards Alexis and introduced her to Mr. Harper, "And Alexis, this is Mr. Harper who owns and runs this place."

Alexis extended her hand to Mr. Harper and said with a smile, "It's good to meet you, Mr. Harper."

He shook Alexis's hand and smiled back, "The pleasure is mine, young lady." Then he turned towards Natalia and asked her, "So, both of you are interested in working here?"

Natalia was very friendly with Mr. Harper so she mocked him by saying, "Don't be so greedy Mr. Harper. I will be working and my friend here will just be watching; I hope you don't mind."

Harper was now already grabbing his tool and getting back to what he was doing before, "No, I won't mind at all. The more, the merrier." He glanced at Natalia and said, "What are you waiting for? Go get changed and get to work. These junks won't mend themselves. Go on!"

Natalia went to the locker room closely followed by Alexis. She found her old work-dress, neatly folded in her locker. She changed from her uniform to her overalls and then went outside again. Alexis was beginning to regret her decision to come with Natalia as she was doing nothing more than tailing Natalia.

Natalia put on protective gears and was all set to begin repairing the core engine of the spaceship that Mr. Harper was currently working on. He looked at Alexis and said, "Lexi, you can choose the Captain's seat of any junks here and do your revisions."

"Sure." Alexis turned around and looked at the vast junkyard again. She chose a small Rescue Craft which was lying close to the office and then went inside it. Then she took out her phone and opened the notes of her Galactic Location class.

She started to go through the notes and to her surprise; she was able to memorize all the coordinates of the discovered planets within around 15 minutes. She was surprised because it had taken her almost three months to memorize the elaborate coordinates of the planets which they frequently travelled to in their Simulation Class.

After memorizing every planet's coordinates in space, Alexis opened the notes of her Space Law class. This course was drafted by the IGT Fed itself to aware all the aspiring Pilots regarding the do's and don'ts of space travel. There were 1021 Acts in total which regulated the Space Travel. Alexis went through all the Acts within the next one hour. She tried recalling them and again, to her surprise, she knew all of them by heart.

She was thinking of Opening another note, but then she thought, "What will I do tomorrow, if I memorize everything today?" Then she closed the notes in her phone and went outside to see what Natalia and Mr. Harper were doing.

They were still working on the core engine of the spaceship called "Voyager R-29". It was a big ship still in use by the Federation. Mr. Harper had managed to salvage the core from a damaged ship and was now repairing it in the hope of selling it at a good price.

"Can I also help? I'm bored." Alexis asked Natalia while looking around at the tools and machines.

"I'm not sure." Natalia turned to see Mr. Harper and asked him, "Mr. Harper, is there anything Alexis can help you with?"

"If you can grab that hammer and help me straighten this plate right here, it would be of great help." Mr. Harper pointed at a huge crooked metal plate which he was working on.

There were several hammers, from small to large, to choose from. Alexis inspected each carefully and tried swinging them. She took the largest one and was able to easily swing it. Then she walked towards Mr. Harper and asked, "Where do you want me to hit it?"

"Oh! That must be quite heavy. Well if you can, then land the hammer right here" Mr. Harper said while pointing his finger at the center of the metal plate.

Alexis lifted the hammer and then swung it while hitting the metal plate with a loud bang. And at just one shot, she managed to unbend it. All three of them were surprised at what just happened; how easily Alexis was able to swing the large hammer as if it was nothing and also managed to straighten the plate.

Natalia broke the silence and said, "Er… Excuse me? You're trying to steal my thunder."