"Um… hey, Natasha." My voice came out strangled. "Yeah, I guess I did."
Damn it. Where is the classic memory transfer every other transmigrated protagonist gets?
"Hm?" She tilted her head, her brows drawing together. "Are you alright, Nate?"
'Not really. I'd love to tell you that I have no idea how to talk to you, because the novel never bothered to explain what your relationship with Nathan actually was.'
Obviously, I couldn't say that out loud.
Haaa. What a drag.
"I'm fine," I said, scratching the back of my head with what I hoped was an embarrassed laugh. "Just a little nervous."
"Oh! Don't worry." She grinned and thumped me on the back. "You'll do great."
Ow. I almost stumbled forward. What is that strength?
"Next," the scarred man called from the ramp.
Saved by the bell. I walked forward and stepped into the airship.
The interior was just as vast as the outside had promised.
Row upon row of seats rose in tiers like a lecture hall, each one mounted on a smooth rail so it could shift position, and the ceiling arched overhead like the belly of some great metal whale.
I looked around with a mixture of curiosity and awe, and found a seat near a window.
When the last examinee had boarded and the necessary checks were done, the hatch sealed shut with a heavy clunk.
The floor trembled, and the ship began lifting slowly from the ground.
After a while, the ship leveled off and settled into a steady speed.
I turned to the window. The world outside rushed past in a blur of glass and steel, and I wasn't the only one watching it.
Several others had their faces pressed to the windows too. Within minutes, the towers of Eden had shrunk behind us, and we were clear of the city.
Clap.
The sound drew every head toward the front of the cabin, where a man and a woman now stood side by side.
"Attention, aspiring cadets," the woman said. "My name is Laura. I hold the rank of captain, and I will be one of your examiners today."
A captain. That makes her at least Class 2. I swallowed. Which means she's ridiculously strong.
The man stepped forward. "I'm Morgan Whise. I also hold the rank of captain, and I'll be examining you as well." His eyes swept the rows.
"We will arrive at the designated location shortly. Prepare yourselves, both physically and mentally."
Prepare. Right. I'd need a literal miracle. But it's Nathan's body, so combat should be…
I froze mid-thought.
A cold realization crawled up my spine. I had no idea how to fight. None. Zilch. I was sixteen years old, for crying out loud, and the most violent thing I had ever done in my old life was losing at a video game.
In the rush of everything, I'd completely overlooked it.
Okay. Okay. Just wing it, right?
The ship began to slow. The engines dropped to a lower hum, and the tilt of the floor shifted beneath my feet. We were almost there.
"The exam lasts five hours," Morgan said. "Only the top one hundred will get in. As for the rest…" He shrugged. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
'Huuu, o—!'
A rush of wind slammed into my face, and my thoughts scattered. Huh?
The floor beneath our seats opened up and dropped us out of the sky.
'Shit!'
The scream tore out of the whole cabin at once, hundreds of voices at once, and the wind howled in my ears as the ground swung around beneath us.
I clamped my hands around the armrests until my knuckles went white. 'You fucking psychos!' I screamed inside my head. 'Damn you!'
I had read the novel. I'd thought I understood how brutal this academy could be. Boy, did I underestimate them.
It had never occurred to me they'd drop literal children out of the sky.
Then again, they're training these children for war.
But there's no way they'd actually kill us. We're the future soldiers of Terra. Right? Right?
The ground kept rushing up, faster and faster.
'Shit. Shit. Do these bastards really want us dead?'
Just as the fear started to harden into certainty, something snapped open at the side of my chair, and a parachute bloomed above me.
The harness yanked me upward, and my descent slowed to a gentle drift.
"Haha." The laugh came out hollow.
"Assholes," I muttered, as the chair settled onto the grass with a soft thump.
I unbuckled the harness and stood on shaky legs.
Around me, the other students were landing and fumbling with their belts, and most of them looked as though they'd aged five years.
Then the cuff on my wrist began to glow.
All around me, the same soft light flickered on every wrist.
A holographic interface unfolded in the air in front of my face, showing a single line.
[Instructions]