The Practical Tests

As Noah waited for Kazhvoyova to say goodbye to Vazhchayvr and Lt. Nekamormi; he wondered if Nekamormi was her personal or family name. He stretched, it was late enough to think about bed yet Noah had to put a plan together with Kazhvoyova. As Kazhvoyova returned she gave him a disappointed look. Noah couldn’t quite stifle the snicker. “Did I do something that stupid?”

Kazhvoyova rolled her eyes, something the Roschani clearly weren’t built for. “Get moving, you need sleep.” Noah gave her a proper eye roll and headed towards his room. “I think there’s more going on here. You’re in the middle of something. I don’t think it’s just new species excitement.”

Noah stretched, “Probably. Captain herself came and visited me. Not to mention I think there’s someone lurking in my shadow.” Kazhvoyova cocked her head in confusion, which always reminded Noah of a bird. “Someone small, and I think they are fuzzy. Defiantly dark colored.”

“Why would they be following you?” Kazhvoyova said clearly piecing things together, “You’re thinking it’s another test.”

“They didn’t say we had graduated in our last meeting before they shipped us out heare. The only thing that was confirmed is that we are going to be partners.” Noah said sneaking a glance over his shoulder, catching glimpse of someone diving for cover. “Yah there’s someone back there.”

“I thought it was fairly obvious when you showed up in my room. Then you initiated all the rights of bonding.” A dirty smile spread across Kazhvoyova’s face, “Although I don’t think Vazhchayvr would accept my word on that one.” Kazhvoyova rolled her shoulders taking her own glance over her shoulder, “I think its one of the smaller species. Defiantly not a crew member. Which doesn’t narrow it down much. I don’t know if they would use crew members to test us. The ranger’s mission often is outside of the navy. But, there is precedent.”

“Or we could be crazy. They could be looking to see what a human will do. Now they picked probably the worst human on, or off, Earth for this.” Noah opened the door to his room, “After you,” Kazhvoyova mimed a curtsy and entered. “The question is what will they think of our relationship?”

“I know Vazhchayvr won’t like it. Although welcome to queens. They always want the best men to themselves.” Kazhvoyova said an impish grin on her face. Noah sighed. “Okay, okay.” Kazhvoyova sat down on the oversized bed, head rolled back in thought. She sat like that for almost a full minute. “As far as the regulations go, the three of us could move in with you given we file the right paperwork.” Noah glared ‘not helpful’ at Kazvoyova. “The Captain may or may not know of our status. She is one of the most vocal advocates for the rangers in the galaxy. She even came to meet with me after my first week to see how I was ‘settling in’ which seems to be rather strange. Vazhchayvr would begrudgingly accept it, she almost got completely disinherited after she got recovered. While I can’t speak to the ‘nobility’ or their games, I think it would work to help her?” Kazhvoyova shrugged, Noah had to smile at the human expression, “I don’t know that much about Folpron, so the good Lieutenant is a mystery to me. Judging by her reputation I hope she would see it as a boon. Being connected to a ranger or two has to be good for her. I don’t see how it couldn’t be. I doubt anyone else would be worth worrying about.”

Kazhvoyova flopped back on the bed, now talking into the ceiling, “Frankly I think figuring out who our tail is can wait. If they think we don’t care perhaps they will get sloppy.” The word didn’t suit her, especially since Kazhvoyova said it in English. “Not that it will happen. We should force them into a bad position before than.” She then sat up, “This is your fault.”

“Presumably, I’m the new species here.” Noah said, yielding the ground. “Are you staying the night?”

“I wish,” Kazhvoyova stood up. “I should get back to my room. I have three roommates. Thankfully they are all mammals.” The pain shone through her face. “We are going to be doing common lessons. You need them.”

Noah waived at her, “Yah tomorrow. I’m tired.” Noah stretched, trying to plot out the options in his head. “Are we going to have team training? Do we have team roles?”

A pair of beeps cut Kazhvoyova off, “Looks like it. Vazhchayvr made these orders so I can get out of work.” Kazhvoyova looked up from her communicator, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Kazhvoyova then left with a wink. Noah took that as his queue to go to bed.

The following morning he gathered his gear and made his way to the gym Vazhchayvr had organized the night before. It reminded Noah of your average High School gym, floors that were somehow too shiny and slippery and yet too sticky. There were viewing windows that were clearly occupied. Noah pondered why as he stretched. War footage from the initial invasion of Earth could be found across the net, the current ambushes as well. Not to mention human pay per view combat sports had found an interstellar audience. “Must be, see it with your own eyes.” Noah mumbled to himself.

“Alright everyone,” Vazhchayvr said, “Ignore the onlookers. They are irrelevant. Today we are going to do a Physical Training test. I want to see where we are. Then I want to do a general skills test. Don’t burn yourself out, don’t slack.” The test started with a run. Noah got settled in a rhythm and started day dreaming. While he never enjoyed running, he had gotten good at it over the years. A flat track with a controlled temperature was much better than winter or rain. It wasn’t long until he realized that all three of his teammates were slowing down. Noah slowed down with them presuming the warm up was done.

“It’s distance in time,” Kazhovyova wheezed, “not timed distance.” Noah gave her a nod and picked up speed, and fell back into rhythm. After making a game out of seeing how many times he could lap each of his teammates. After lapping both Roschani four times and three for Nekamormi, the three women stopped doubled over panting. Noah walked up, the three glaring at him as he approached.

“How?” Nekamormi started, “He… Monster.” Noah didn’t catch all of what she was trying to say though her gasps for air. Both Roschani nodded in agreement so Noah assumed it had something to do with the fact he could just run. As he stretched the room began to reconfigure itself the flat floor was replaced with an obstacle course that reminded Noah of those pre-invasion gameshows, where the obstacle course was less practical skills and more mobility spectacle. Noah had to admit to himself, it looked like a lot of fun.

They shot Noah a look of ‘On with it’ and so he did. He ran up the split stairs, jumped from stepping stone to stepping stone, ran across the beam. Noah caught a glance at the two dumbfounded women, and a smug looking Kazhvoyova as he swung between the ropes. He ended with a bit of a flourish as he dropped from the finish platform. Noah’s teammates couldn’t have had more different reactions. Kazhvoyova was trying not to laugh at him, and clearly trying to keep from looking too smug. Vazhchayvr was lost in calculation, clearly tying to make sense of what she had just seen, and deciding if she believed what had happened had happened. Nekamormi was out right scared, at least that’s how Noah read her expression.

Noah wasn’t sure if he had passed, failed, or simply made a fool of himself. Not sure what to do he stretched and waited for one of the aliens to do something. Kazhvoyova looked at him and slowly shook her head. Noah appreciated the human gesture. His teammates then launched into discussion. Noah apricated their hushed voices as it was clear they were trying to not let him in on their conversation. Noah couldn’t follow any of it.

Kazhvoyova then came forth to translate, “They want to put you though a physical: lifts, run until you can’t, then combatives, today. I attempted to get them to push it out since we’ve done a test already, medically speaking; I was overruled. Now I don’t think…”

“Sure,” Noah cut Kazhvoyova off, “I’d rather not do an endurance test. Lifts, fights sure. I think I should put on a show for the shadow.”

Kazhvoyova blinked at that. “Right. I figured, I’ll let them know.” She returned to the huddle. Noah watched as the group devolved into chaos. Kazhvoyova was playing her role as medically concerned nurse well, Nekamormi was clearly worried about something, Vazhchayvr was weighing the odds between showing off their teammate or hiding him away for later. Noah was glad they were taking their time with the decision. Then a decision was made, the team headed to a weight room.

The multi-species weight room was very analog. It seemed the return of specialized equipment wasn’t worth it, instead going with heavy plates either on either end of a bar or the center of a bar. Noah was glad for the self explanatory nature of the room. Presented with reasonably sized examples of dumbbells and barbells Noah got to lifting. Starting with his arms he went for what he thought would be equal to 50lbs on Earth. Noah wasn’t certain, as the numbers were rather hard to read, and it the gravity in this room felt slightly heavier than the rest of the ship. It was clear that he had surpassed his team’s expectations. Their shock did draw some attention as he pushed to the next set, legs. It seemed no one in the room outside of Noah thought he should be able to lift what he was. Noah finished lifting what felt like 300lbs above his head and a few of the onlookers fainted.

“Should we call it for now?” Noah asked. He was tired, yet it sounded like there was some more they wanted to do today. “Break for lunch than do the rest of the tests?” It wasn’t lost on him that the girls had been pushing themselves as well.

Vazhchayvr drew Kazhvoyova , and Nekamormi, into a huddle, Noah decided it had to do with feminine honor, or something. It had Kazhvoyova most of their time in selections to realize that he ‘out womaned’ her as the Rosahani idiom went. Noah decided to take the exclusion as that of a smitten Roshani rather than an intimidated one. He thought it was more likely given her actions yesterday.

“Yes we will do lunch.” Vazhchayvr said.