Culture Shock - 1. Chapter 1

Bee-bee-beep bee-bee-beep bee-bee-beep bee-bee-beep

A hand whipped out from under the covers and swatted at the source of the noise. After several hits, the “snooze” button was found and pounded into submission. The arm fell to the bed, landing beside the pillow and remained still for the next 10 minutes.

Bee-bee-beep bee-bee-beep

The searching arm found the source of the noise much quicker the second time and a groan filled the small room, echoing off of the dull metallic grey walls. This time the alarm was turned off and the entire body moved hesitantly. The arm crept down in the dark room and slid the synthetic bed “linens” down revealing the well muscled and almost perfectly toned body of a seventh generation Marine. Second Lieutenant Robert Anderson Blake loathed mornings. He would have much preferred that every day did not start until 1000 hours or later but being part of the Corps meant that he did not have the luxury of sleeping in.

He swung his feet off of the bed until they made contact with the cold hard floor. Even though the room was kept at an optimal temperature of 22 degrees Celsius it always felt cold to him. As the shiver that started at the soles of his feet proceeded up through his body, he stretched his arms above his head like a wild feline and a small purring sound emanated from the back of his throat. Except in this case it was not a purr of contentment. It was the only indication of irritation that the Marine allowed himself.

He heaved himself from his bed, opened his clothes locker to grab the day's uniform and made his way across his small quarters into the even smaller attached room that could barely be considered large enough for sanitary conveniences. Being the highest ranking Marine on board meant that he had to be up and ready for the day bright and early, a task that he tried to avoid but his aide simply would not allow.

Staff Sargent Christopher Clark lived up to his name. He enjoyed the trivial paper work and the attention to detail that he exhibited on a daily basis, something that constantly left Lieutenant Blake in awe.

At 29 Robert Blake graduated from the Academy and received his first commission. His feelings of inadequacy almost paralysed him on a daily basis – what made him even begin to imagine that he was responsible enough to command a platoon of Marines? This feeling was only antagonized when he realized that his aide, Sargent Clark was 41 years old and quite content to fulfil his tour of duty not ever rising higher than his current rank. Watching the older man assemble the men, plan his day and look to him for guidance was just a trifle unnerving.

Robert Blake still considered himself to be “Robbie” in his heart of hearts. Through an accident of fate, Robbie Blake ended up with several medals for distinguished service and his actions were commended by superiors all the way up to Major General Brenda Van der Klein. If Robbie fully understood the consequences of saving that arrogant prick of a Private's life he would have let the little snot lay in his own blood for eternity. Instead, Robbie did what he was trained to do. He picked up the wounded Marine, tossed him over his shoulder and ran like someone was ready to set his ass on fire. Granted that was fairly close to the reality of the situation, he never liked the fact that he was pressured into the Officer's Academy. He would have been quite happy to remain in his squad slogging through the menial tasks assigned to the lowly Lance Corporal.

He would always remember the day when all of the medals were pinned to his dress uniform. Standing at full attention while the two silver stars glinted off of Major General Van der Klein's shoulders, Robbie Blake still had difficulty believing that the snotty little prick whose life he saved was the son of General Thomson.

To try to ensure that there was no question of nepotism, Private Lawrence McNicholl enlisted under his mother's maiden name. That fact was probably the only factor that kept him in the Marine Corp. If word got out that the son of the most popular 4 star general of the Marine Corp was a lazy, disrespectful little prick of a man that barely was able to pass inspection on a regular basis he would have found himself discharged as quickly as the paperwork could be pushed through to avoid embarrassing the General.

So, for that thoughtless act of never leaving a brother Marine behind, Robert Blake was afflicted with the rank of Second Lieutenant and was assigned a platoon of Marines to be shipped out on a combined military and civilian reconnaissance mission acting as Security detail. He did fine all through the Academy training, achieving marks in the top of each subject, received praise from all of the instructors for his common sense and ability to act clearly and constructively while under pressure.

None of this helped him with his insecurities, the same insecurities that originally made him sign up for the Marines. He was hoping that the Corp would be able to “make a man out of him” like some anachronistic slogan claimed. He unlisted three months after his nineteenth birthday, hoping to have someone tell him what to do with his life. He was hoping that someone would let him know what he was supposed to do. Instead he fucked up his entire life when he thought for himself for the first time and automatically did what others considered an act of bravery under fire risking his own life to save a fellow Marine.

The reality of the matter he would never admit to anyone. Private McNicholl tripped and fell during the evacuation of their location under enemy fire and the only reason the Robbie stopped to pick him was was to shut him up. McNicholl was whining like a little girl that found her favourite doll sticking half out of a garbage disposal and Robbie was afraid that his wailing would bring the enemy fire raining down on his head. Privately he was hoping that the bouncing action of the slimy Private on his shoulders as he ran for cover would cause him to lose consciousness. Instead, the jolting caused the Private to increase the volume and frequency of the whining to the point where Robbie wanted to drop him on his head. Just before he gave in to the urge to do just that, Robbie encountered the evac unit and he ran into the hold with his burden slung across his shoulders just as the hydraulics shut the heavy blast doors behind them.

Drying off his pale body, Robbie banged his elbow again on the wall of the small bathroom and muttered a curse under his breath. He walked out into the other room to finish drying off and dressing quickly so that he would be almost ready when Sargent Clark arrived at 0615. There was a small rapping on the door as Robbie finished sliding the final zipper closed on his ship suit and Sargent Clark opened the door and entered. Robbie could not suppress the small smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth at Clark's obvious discomfort. The second order that Robbie gave Clark was to stop knocking and waiting like a slave outside his door. The first order was to stop saluting and calling him sir when the were not around others. Robbie still did not like having an aide that was so much older than himself but he could not argue with the results that Clark was able to achieve.

Even though Robbie's men were bound to be bored by the end of the 17 month voyage, Clark was able to ensure that discipline was maintained and that there were no “occurrences” between the marines and the regular crew of the ship. That was not an easy job Robbie was sure, but Clark did it without hesitation and there never seemed to be a single situation where Clark was at a loss for constructive recommendations. Robbie hoped that he would never be around if something truly caught Clark off guard and unprepared.

Robbie finished drying his hair, running a brush through the close-cut stubble to make it presentable as Clark began with his itinerary for the day. Meet with the science team first regarding possible security requirements, then on to inspections, forms to sign off on, meeting with the Captain for a semi-social meal, presiding over a training exercise, various social functions and Robbie found that they were all things that he had no real interest in doing yet again. If not for Clark's persistence, Robbie would have spent the entire trip in his bunk, sleeping or reading his way across the distance between the stars until they arrived at the newly discovered human-habitable planet that the astronomers detected. Instead he would be spending the entire day of March 19, 2217 doing crap he was sure would frustrate him and test his patience to the very limits of his tolerance.

He straightened his shipsuit for a final time, running his right hand down the front to ensure that there were no wrinkles as he left his quarters in front of Sargent Clark on his way to the assembly room that Captain Anton Volod had reserved for the use of the Marines during the voyage.

Walking through the ship always gave Robbie a strange feeling. The though that several layers of carbon-fibre and iso-ceramic steel were all that separated him from the vacuum of space made him wish for the relative safety and security of a dirt-side assignment. If it weren't for the honour bestowed upon him, he would have turned down the assignment in a heart beat. He understood that the political and public-relations side of the trip required a “hero” to go along, but he just felt like he wasn't that hero.

As he strode down the new passageways, Robbie reflected on how the maiden voyage of the spaceship Argos had been filled with political manoeuvring and having such a distinguished personage nominally in charge of the security aspect of the voyage caused such a change in the public opinions that the nay-sayers in congress were forced to follow the public will of the people to avoid being lynched. When Major General Brenda Van der Klein pinned the final medal on his chest, she turned to the cameras that were beaming the telecast to all reaches of the human Commonwealth and announced that the Marine Corps was proud to be sending Second Lieutenant Blake on the Argos on it's maiden voyage as chief of Security with a full compliment of Marines along to ensure that they would be ready for just about anything that they may encounter on that enigmatic planet so far away. After that announcement, several meetings were quickly held between politicians and their career advisory panels with the net result being a unanimous resolution passed one week after the medal ceremony approving the mission to visit that lonely planet circling a star so far out that it wasn't even visible from Earth.

Robbie had forced himself to read through the summary of all of the scientific papers published on Hester-b, and even some of the unpublished ones too. Planet C-1592-JohnMysra-1544.015.11, also known as Hester-b, had baffled the scientists in Pluto Observatory. The planet confounded astronomers in the Metropolitan University of Alpha Ceti. Robbie walked down the narrow passageway that technically was a service passage on his way to the assembly room as he desperately tried to figure out how to not look like an idiot as soon as the scientists began outlining their security requirements for a whole range of possible scenarios ranging from the plausible to the completely absurd. By the time he arrived at the door that would allow him to slip in to the front of the assembly room with his trusty shadow Sargent Clark, his nerves were starting to fray. The deep breath that he took made him wish for a simple sniper targeting him instead of having to spend the morning listening to whatever bizarre scenarios the science team wanted to discuss today.

The door slid open as he passed his ID card over the reader stripe embedded in the wall immediately beside the door. Robbie stepped through to begin yet another frustrating session that he was sure would result in another migraine for him.