I Choose the Skills Everyone Else Rejects

The medic made Nate eat before she let him leave the infirmary.

Two nutrient bars, a packet of mineral gel and most of a bottle of water disappeared in minutes. His stomach still cramped with hunger.

Body Memory had stopped the shaking in his arms, but every correction drained him again. The Skill could restore his body toward a condition it had already reached. It could not create the energy required to do so.

The medic ran a scanner over his forearm.

"You pushed your pathways too far."

"Will they recover?"

"If you leave them alone for several days."

The soreness beneath Nate’s skin was already fading. She noticed and passed the scanner over the same area again.

"Your Class is doing that?"

"It helps my body retain physical adaptations."

The explanation remained close enough to the Class he had registered: Variant Kinetic Recall, with Deep Imitation as its Root Skill.

She did not look convinced.

Dacre waited beside the door.

"Can he answer questions?" he asked.

"For an hour." The medic handed Nate another nutrient bar. "Then he eats again."

Dacre led him into a windowless room beside the infirmary.

A metal table had been fixed to the floor. The academy administrator sat on one side, still wearing the clean uniform he had arrived in after Derren’s death.

The man opposite him wore a dark military coat without visible rank. Grey had begun to spread through his short hair. A recording light blinked above the table.

Dacre remained near the door.

Nate sat.

The military investigator opened a slate.

"Cadet Nate Calder. Awakening registered twenty-six days ago. Class reported as Variant Kinetic Recall. Root Skill, Deep Imitation."

"Yes."

"Your First Circuit was confirmed today."

"Yes."

The administrator leaned forward.

"You concealed a change in your status."

"I hadn’t reported it yet."

"You closed your Circuit three days ago."

Nate looked at him. "Yes."

The investigator raised one hand.

"We’ll return to that."

He displayed a diagram of the training block.

"Start with the power cell."

Nate explained what he had seen. Cale finding the repainted cell. Tomas checking the connection. The military stamp beneath the academy-grey paint. The moment the old defence grid activated.

He described reaching the control room and Tomas finding the black bridge hidden behind the training lock.

Then he reached Derren.

His voice slowed.

The investigator touched the slate.

A corridor recording appeared without sound.

Derren ran toward the control room with one leg failing beneath him. The turret rotated above the passage. Through the open door, Nate saw himself beside the emergency control.

Iris turned.

Her mouth opened.

Nate pressed the seal.

The investigator paused the recording before the door finished closing.

Derren was still several steps away.

"Did he have a chance to reach the room?" the investigator asked.

"Maybe."

"You believed he might make it."

"Yes."

"Why did you close the door?"

"The turret had a clear line into the room."

"How many people were inside?"

"Six."

The investigator waited.

Nate looked at Derren’s frozen image.

"I chose them."

Dacre shifted slightly beside the door.

"Cadet Morn told you to wait," the investigator said.

"I heard her."

"You continued."

"Yes."

The administrator placed one hand on the table.

"Calder acted under immediate threat. The preliminary report can state that he protected the larger group from a military defence system that should never have been active."

Nate turned toward him.

"Derren was still running."

"That will be included."

"You wanted to say the system closed the door."

"That was before we had the full sequence."

"And now?"

"Now the report will state that you acted to protect the cadets inside."

"That still leaves out the choice."

The administrator’s mouth tightened.

"It does not need to assign a moral judgement."

"I’m not asking it to."

The investigator removed the recording from the screen.

"Was closing the door your only option?"

"No."

"What else could you have done?"

"Waited."

"And risked the people inside."

"Yes."

The investigator studied him.

"Do you regret closing it?"

Nate looked at the unopened nutrient bar in his hand. The wrapper bent beneath his thumb.

"I regret that he was outside."

"That is not the same thing."

"I know."

"Would you make the same choice again?"

Derren’s hand striking the floor returned to him. So did Tomas beside the exposed rack and Iris standing behind him while the turret turned.

"I don’t know."

The investigator entered something on the slate.

The administrator looked dissatisfied. The military man gave no reaction.

He opened another file.

"What method did you use to close your First Circuit?"

"A return path before opening the second Node."

Dacre’s attention sharpened.

"That method is restricted," the investigator said.

"I found it in an old training record."

"Where?"

"It was included with the material from my Root Skill."

"Deep Imitation gave you access to a prohibited Circuit method?"

"Yes."

The investigator watched him long enough for the room to become uncomfortable.

Nate kept his breathing steady.

"Your registered Class will be reviewed. Until that review is complete, you are prohibited from using your circulation without supervision."

Nate nodded.

The investigator closed the file.

"The defence network reported two irregularities when it activated. An unregistered military cell and a Linked circulation signature assigned to a cadet listed as Unlinked. That is why Oversight requested your file."

"So the request was automatic."

"It was."

The answer did not make Nate feel any safer.

The investigator switched off the recorder.

"The bridge created the lethal situation. Cadet Mercer activated the system through negligence. Your decision came after both."

The administrator crossed his arms.

"That does not remove his responsibility."

"I did not say it did."

The investigator stood.

"You are not being detained. The academy will decide whether your concealed progression and use of a restricted method allow you to remain enrolled."

He gathered his slate.

"Military Oversight will handle the cell and the bridge."

The interview ended without anyone telling Nate what came next.

---

Iris sat outside with a fresh bandage around one palm.

She stood when Nate appeared.

Dacre walked several steps down the corridor.

"You have five minutes."

Iris waited until he was farther away.

"They asked whether you heard me."

"What did you tell them?"

"That you did."

Nate opened the nutrient bar.

"You told them the truth."

"I also said Derren might have reached the door."

"You should have."

Her brow tightened.

"You’re not angry?"

"Why would I be?"

"I don’t know."

Nate took a bite. The food was dry enough to hurt his throat, but his body demanded more.

Iris stared at the infirmary floor.

"I keep seeing him run."

"So do I."

"I don’t know whether you saved us."

"Neither do I."

She looked up.

"Does that bother you?"

"Yes."

The answer came before he could decide whether he should give it.

Iris nodded slowly and left.

Ethan waited near the stairs.

His academy jacket was crooked, one side fastened higher than the other. Mara stood beside a tall window behind him, watching the courtyard.

Ethan came closer.

"Did you close the door?"

"Yes."

"While Derren was still running?"

"Yes."

Ethan rubbed a hand across his mouth.

"I heard three different stories. One person said the system forced it shut. Someone else said Derren was already dead."

"He wasn’t."

"I keep thinking you could have waited."

"So do I."

Ethan looked at him.

"Then why didn’t you?"

"There were six people behind me."

"And Derren was right there."

"I saw him."

"One second, Nate."

"The turret fired before the door finished sealing."

"You don’t know it would have killed everyone."

"I didn’t know waiting would save him."

Ethan glanced toward the infirmary doors.

"I want to believe I would have waited."

Nate believed that too.

Ethan’s Class had been built around standing between danger and other people. Perhaps he would have held the doorway. Perhaps he would have stepped into the corridor and trusted his Skill to protect him.

Nate had been given a button and a closing door.

"You weren’t in that room," he said.

Ethan’s expression changed.

Nate heard the accusation in his own words.

"I’m not saying you don’t care."

"Then what are you saying?"

"You didn’t have to decide."

"I would have helped."

"Maybe you would have found a way. I didn’t."

Ethan stared at him.

"You chose us over him."

"Yes."

"You say it like it was easy."

"It wasn’t."

"I can’t tell."

Nate lowered his eyes to the torn wrapper in his hand.

"I don’t know what you want me to say."

"That you wish you had waited."

"I wish he had reached the room."

"That’s different."

"I know."

Dacre returned.

"That’s enough, Ward."

Ethan remained where he was for another moment.

Mara turned from the window.

"Ethan."

He looked at Nate once more, then joined her. Mara offered neither blame nor sympathy before following him down the stairs.

Dacre held out a sealed envelope.

The academy crest had been stamped across the front. A military seal covered part of it.

Nate opened it.

The first line suspended his academy training pending investigation.

The second transferred responsibility for his instruction and discipline away from Royal Field Academy.

The third contained a unit name.

LAST CONTACT

The reassignment was listed as provisional, compulsory and subject to field review. Once Nate reported, the academy would no longer be responsible for his safety.

There was no place for his signature.

"This isn’t an academy unit," Nate said.

"No."

"Am I being expelled?"

"The academy hasn’t decided."

"Then why are they sending me away?"

"They don’t want you here while they decide."

Nate looked at the unit name again.

"What does Last Contact do?"

"They go to the final known location of teams that stopped responding."

"To rescue them?"

"When there is still someone to rescue."

The order listed a departure time, equipment restrictions and temporary military clearance.

"When do I leave?"

"Tomorrow morning."

Nate folded the document.

Dacre looked toward the infirmary behind them.

"Don’t mistake this for a promotion. The academy is passing its problem to a unit willing to use it."

Nate returned the order to its envelope.

For the first time since he had closed the door, someone had made a decision that did not require his agreement.

He was more useful somewhere people went missing.

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