William
William struggled to keep up to Alyn. He was breathing heavy, and sweating more than he ever had in his life, and he hadn’t even left the small exercise room on the ‘Windbreaker Express’.
It had been several days since William learned that his uncle was a Techno-Mage, and the shock, although still there, was beginning to wear off. Once he had gotten over the fear, he had a million questions for his uncle, but he refused to answer, or more precise evaded the question.
William was settling into the ‘Windbreaker Express’ with a daily routine. He joined his uncle for meals with the rest of the crew and passengers of the small starship, although every meal his uncle say with the captain at the main table, and was treated like a guest of honor. William enjoyed listening to the captain, and his family talk. They were friendly, and his son, although several years younger than himself, had invited him to join him, and his friends in the holo rooms playing siege, and other games.
Dex was a formidable player, all the so more as the games were played for real instead of VR, and William found his body unable to react as he expected it to. He knew what he wanted it to do, but he was clumsy, and slow. It frustrated him to no end, and so he had enlisted the aid of his uncle to get into shape, and he thought that was the greatest mistake of his life.
It had only been two days since he began to train with Alyn, and there wasn’t a muscle he couldn’t feel at all times, and several that he didn’t know he had. He was getting use to space travel though, and the jumps didn’t make him as sick anymore. He still felt it, especially in the pit of his stomach, but it wasn’t as bad as the first days.
The ‘Windbreaker Express’ had finally reached the Nord Void, and left Commonwealth space. The captain told him that they should reach their destintation of Coldfell in five weeks give or take. The Nord Void was charted well enough for space travel, but it was not as charted as space within the Settled Worlds. There were lightly settled worlds scattered around the Nord Void, but star charts were not updated as often, or as well surveyed, and so the journey through it could take longer than expected even on a few run trip, not to mention running into pirates or raiders.
Both Alyn, and the Captain had ensured him that pirates were unlikely to be seen, and even if they were, the ‘Windbreaker Express’ could not only defend itself, it was build with speed and so could jump faster than most starships. On top of the fact that their course was uncharted, pirate would have to get lucky, and either jump on top of them, or they would have to jump on top of a pirate ship, and the odds of such things were few to none.
It was cold comfort, but training with Alyn kept his mind from thinking of such things, and the pain in his body kept his mind busy when he wasn’t training. Still, there were moments when he saw his family, or Samantha, Anders, or his other friends who hadn’t escaped, or the countless others he knew nothing about, and hoped against hope that they to, like him, had survived.
