I have had great difficulty summoning the courage to speak of my first pairing, before I met Doclin. Please forgive any discontinuity of chapter presentation for this chronicle. I write as the memories well up within me. My initial overview tell (Ch. 01) is actually the endpoint of 'past' chapters. Once the chronicle timeline catches up to that first story, all subsequent tells will be 'as they occur'. I will record my thoughts about the war and its aftermath in my next writing. Each one stands alone as a story. I do hope you read the chronicle in its entirety, however. I send off each tell as it is completed. They are collected on Earth for possible future release, hopefully after some reorganization of the tells. Anyway, this one happened about six Earth years before the Great Infection. I had thought to omit it, but can not contain its impact on me any longer.
"Pull over and exit the transport."
How dumb could I be? Our transports operate upon destination input, and require no other passenger control. We can elect to manually operate a transport in certain situations only. It is when we believe that a passenger is causing unwarranted delays that tempers can flare. We can display our displeasure in several ways familiar to 'drivers' of your planet. I have just incorrectly vented to the passenger transport in front of me. It is my misfortune to have done so to this particular passenger. This one is a Guider Trooper.
I exit as directed and fumble to display my unicard, hesitant to look up at the Trooper. I am hoping that this posture is taken as one of penance.
"Corjix? Is that you, Cor?"
My mind is reeling. Do I know any Guider Troopers? Is this in any way going to be a good thing? Okay, I look up. Trax! I mean, Trooper Ortrax. When did this happen!?
"I entered service right after studiestime. Now please explain to me what this outburst is all about."
I thought you... the passenger in front of me... that is...anyway, I thought the delay was being caused by a...
"Stupid Trooper?"
No!. I had no idea you were a Trooper!
"Or you would not have flared that way, right?"
He had me every which way and I bowed my head again.
"Back in your transport, Rorgan, and wait for my decision."
Yes, Sir. Now I really, REALLY felt bad. I had a thing for Trax while we were in a common studiestime course. Of course I could not explore that option at the time. I was just too insecure. Trax. He was a bit shorter than me, a bit more muscular, and a whole lot more popular. He was the kind of Rorgan I wanted to be. He just fit in anywhere.
"On your way!"
I was handed my decision and my heart sank because we...it would have been nice if... 'No Issue'. The decision noted was: No Issue! All right! I beat the penalty! But the best part was hand-written below the decision: 'Call me...Trax@1111.'
My mind raced as my transport slowly continued to its destination without further incident, from me, that is. I kind of smiled at the thought, but could Trax really...? No. He just wants to catch up.
Hey, Trax.
"Hi, Cor. I'm glad you accessed my stream. Despite the circumstances, it was good to see you."
Same here. So, Trax, maybe we can catch up, or...