Posted by Lieutenant Alexandra Garfield (Xenobiologist) in ASTRO 110 Stellar Cartography —Ten Years Ago —
Lexi pulled the edge of her turtleneck up over the tip of her nose. Fieldwork was always fun and a nice change to get you out of the humdrum existence of the classroom but some work was far more appealing than others. Lying on a blanket in the Owyhee Canyonlands, Oregon could have been fun if you had a case of beer, some smores and a bonfire to keep one nice and toasty. Instead, Cadet Garfield was lying on hardpan cushioned by a thin itchy wool blanket freezing her keister off trying to find what she assumed was something everyone but her on the planet could find.

“God it all looks the same to me,” Lexi said gazing up at the sky. This class was mind-numbingly dull and pointless to her field. She didn’t give two hoots about dust and ice floating in the cosmos. Sure it was this dust and ice that seeded planets with a myriad of life forms but it was not real life. Just organic soup with a small percentage of actually doing something in the right conditions. “And I don’t see the red,” she banged her binoculars against her palm. Everyone is always like ‘you can see the red and that is how you find Mars but it ain’t red. Not that I can see. Maybe mine are broken,” she whacked the small handheld device against the ground she was laying on trying to see if that would help. “Trade with me,” she said to Chris who was lying next to her. She didn’t need to look at his face. She had known him long enough to tell what his expression was. He wore this mesmerized expression for two things and two things only. One was when he saw the perfect ten body and negative two intelligence girls that always seemed to be preening about like peacocks on the prowl. The other was when he was gazing at the stars.

Cadet Lexi Garfield

“I most certainly will not trade with you… this is mine. There are many like it, but this one is mine. You need to just get better at this, if I can figure out biology and get a B+ out of it when I clearly had no clue what I was doing a third of the way through you can figure out the location of planets and stars in our solar system. It’s not like I am asking you to map the stars from the surface of Vulcan or Orion… it’s OUR planet.” he said with that last part with a emphasis on the last part as he looked over at her as if she had just insulted his family heritage.

“Besides you are looking at the wrong location doll, it’s that way.” he said pointing the other direction from where she had been looking as he couldn’t help but shaking his head. “Did you flip the coordinates again? What happens if you need to take over and help on a bridge one day? We are expected to be jack of all trades in many ways in situations of emergencies.” he said chastising her as he put down his pair and moved over to his bag as he put it between the two. Unzipping it it seemed to be a mix of books, equipment, and what seemed like a butt load of candies and snacks.

“Where is Professor Harlen? She was here earlier?” Chris asked as he looked around, he saw other students spread out but didn’t see their professor at all. “Or what about… what’s his name… that boy toy of yours… Schmidt, Schmity, Schmitten? The way too Jewish sounding name even for you… you do remember your boyfriends name right? I am gonna need some help hear Lexi doll.” he said as he finished digging from the bottom of the bag and found the Recces cups as he handed them over to her.

Cadet Christopher Robin