The first week at the training camp had been agonizingly exhausting, most of the crew and cadets spent any free time trying to catch up on some much-needed sleep and Wendy was no exception. The girl had dozed off, her head resting peacefully against the cafeteria’s table, when a sudden flick to her forehead brought her back to Earth. “Enforce Protocol B-11!” she commanded automatically as she rose in her seat, sitting upright.

“You need to eat so you can keep that brain of yours running,” Joy replayed next to her, grabbing her tray’s chopsticks, nonchalantly.

It took a few seconds for Wendy realize where she was. “I think I was dreaming about Processes and Procedures Class,” she murmured, rubbing her drowsy eyes.

“Yeah, no , Son,” her friend replied, shaking her head disapprovingly.

“That’s the third time this week,” Mark commented, joining their table along Johnny. “Here, I made you some coffee. We still got the whole afternoon left, you look like you need it.”

“Don’t drink it, Golden Girl. Mark is just trying to get rid of the competition,” Johnny joked before taking a mouthful of rice.

Mark hit the other guy on the shoulder playfully. “We’re all already on the project, there’s no point in competing now.”

Wendy would’ve loved to keep up with her friends’ conversation, they made her days a tad bit less stressful, but her brain wasn’t being too cooperative. She needed to get some sleep ASAP.

“I’ll go take a nap. See you later,” she suddenly announced with a sigh, standing up and taking her tray along with her. “Oh, and thanks for the coffee, Mark,” she managed to shout over her shoulder before leaving.

She had exactly 45 minutes until Flight Simulation so she darted back to her room. If she ran fast enough she’d have about 30 minutes to sleep before she had to head to the East wing for her afternoon training.

She would later blame her carelessness on her sleep-deprived brain, but in reality, Wendy should have known better than to run the dorm hallways and go up the stairs without looking where she was going. She first felt a body collide against hers and then she heard the loud yelp. There was nothing but darkness after .

Wendy opened her eyes and found herself in a pristine white room. White walls, white floor tiles, white bed sheets. The infirmary, she thought. She could hear some voices in the near distance, beyond the white curtain separating her from the rest of the spacious area.

“…mainly exhausted. Her Q-scans showed no fracture, concussion, or any lasting injuries. Her shoulder will be in pain for a couple of days, but besides that she’ll be fine by Monday,” a calm voice explained to another person, Wendy could see their silhouettes through the thin curtain.

“Crap, it’s 2:30,” she muttered when she saw the small clock on the white nightstand. She quickly got on her feet and pulled the curtain open, surprising the two women who had been previously discussing her condition. “I’m late for Flight Simulation,” she merely offered as an explanation before she dashed down the hallway.

A firm arm caught her before she could take another step. “The nurse said you need to rest,” the woman holding her in place, Joohyun, informed her.

Said nurse, an old lady dressed in white scrubs, looked from one woman to the other with narrowed eyes. “Oh, I just know this young girl here is going to be one of those stubborn patients,” she observed, pointing at Wendy. “Commander Bae, I’ll leave her to you,” she added before walking down the hall and closing the door of her small office.

“She said I’m fine,” Wendy protested, trying to free her arm.

Joohyun lifted her left arm in exasperation. “You fell down the stairs, cadet.”

Wendy didn’t really know what had happened. She hadn’t actually stopped to think about it, going back to training was her priority. “I... really?” she asked, no longer resisting.

“She checked your corp-stats and activity log,” Joohyun continued, walking to the nightstand next to Wendy’s table and retrieving a black tablet. Wendy’s face paled at the sight of the small device. The Vita system dictated life on base as they knew it; from mundane tasks, like her daily schedule, to more complex information, like her sleep activity and overall health. Vita knew everything about everybody at the Aurora center. They weren’t synced on to the main system when they were at the academy, but once they had joined the official mission, they had pledged they brains and bodies to science, nothing truly belonged to them anymore.

Joohyun tapped on the tablet a couple of times and a detailed report popped on the screen. “It says right here that you need at least 6 hours of sleep to recharge back to a 100%. Nurse Lee already applied some ointment on your bruises and injected what you needed to heal faster. The rest is up to you, OK?”

“OK,” Wendy replied casting her eyes down to the floor, defeated.

“Get to it, then. It’s an order,” Joohyun instructed, patting the bed next to them.

Wendy walked back to her bed and tucked herself in with a slight scowl, she really wanted to go back to training. “So, I fell down the stairs?” she asked once she had settled in the bed.

Joohyun sat down on a white chair next to the bed. “You bumped into me. I was going down, you were going up. You fell backwards and landed on the floor. You murmured something about some protocol and then then lost consciousness,” the older woman replied patiently.

Wendy nodded absentmindedly, trying to remember anything from the accident. She swung her index finger around in the air, pointing around them, at the infirmary. “How did I…?”

“I called the infirmary since you didn’t seem to regain consciousness, they brought you here,” Joohyun answered before Wendy could even finish her sentence.

Wendy bit her lip, filled with guilt. “I’m sorry for the trouble, you must be really busy.”

“I’m not going to leave you here alone so you can sneak back to training, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Joohyun sharply stated, reading in between the lines.

“I–no, it was just an observation. I really am sorry for bothering you. Now it’s twice, if you count last time…” Wendy trailed off, sulking ever so slightly.

Joohyun sighed, shaking her head. “And what did you do last time that was so bad besides stopping me from punching some sense into a few entitled cadets? If anything, I should be thanking you. I would’ve definitely gotten reprimanded if you hadn’t stopped me,” she said, growing more agrvated with every word.

Joohyun’s reaction had startled Wendy. She sheepishly averted her eyes, suddenly finding the bed sheet’s fabric very interesting. “I’m sorry,” she murmured.

“Don’t,” Joohyun retorted firmly. “Don’t apologize unless I tell you to. Are we clear?” she added in a softer tone, sending a reassuring smile to the girl lying in bed in front of her.

Wendy nodded. “Clear.”

A few seconds passed. Wendy looked out the window, a few cadets were running off in the distance. At the base, everybody always seemed to be heading somewhere, there was no time for leisure when the future of humanity rested on your shoulders. “Honestly though, are you sure you don’t have anywhere else to be, Commander? I would imagine you’d be extremely busy on a Friday afternoon. I don’t want to keep you here if you have other business to attend.”

“Well, we had our weekly progress meeting at 2 but I already notified the crew about my absence. I’ll just get the conference video later from Vita,” Joohyun replied with a dismissive hand, as if it was no big deal.

That reassured Wendy. She hadn’t caused the Commander any majors problems. “Alright then, I-I’ll try to sleep,” she said as she changed the inclination of the bed with a control panel on her side.

“Very well. I’ll go once you fall asleep,” Joohyun promised with a sincere expression and an almost imperceptible lopsided smile. That was the last thing Wendy saw before she passed out.

It was dark and quiet when Wendy opened her eyes, the only source of light was the one coming from the window on her right from adjacent buildings and faraway streetlights. Her eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness and she noticed that she was all alone, the chair next to her bed was empty. Somehow, it made the room feel a bit colder.

Wendy retrieved her phone from the nightstand to check if she had any texts. He lock screen read 9:43 PM in big white numbers. The group chat she had with Joy, Mark, Johnny and Jaehyun was filled with worried texts.

We got a Vita notif saying you were at the clinic. WHAT?

You fell down the stairs at the dorm???

Are you OK?

The same type of texts went on and on, but it was the last one from Joy caught her attention.

Nevermind. We were on our way there but Commander Bae messaged us, she said you’re fine. Just resting. You need it, girl. Text us when you wake up.

Immediately, she updated her friends on her current state and started crafting a Thank You text