[CH01 - Monday 0730 hours - Stout]

Bethany, the Loan Agent from the Corporation Le CS Credit Union looked at his loan request for tuition to the Merchant Celestial Academy and said, “I’ve still got some questions, if you don’t mind?” Stout felt his stomach drop on those words. He had worked so hard to make sure he had all of his documents in place. He had his last five years of employment wages, all with the same shop, printed and listed in chronological order. He had his last three annual tax returns, one more than the bank needed, to show that he was working one full time job and had freelance work at the gym as a coach. He had an outstanding credit score and savings here in this institution. He even had letters of reference from his employers and the Dean of the Engineering College where he had graduated with his electronic engineering bachelor's degree. The bank had rescheduled this appointment three separate times, and now, when they rescheduled at the last minute for the start of the business day, they had more questions. He hoped that his worries didn’t show on his face, and instead put on a brave smile. “Sure! What can I answer for you?” “Why do they call twenty-four hours a day if the sun doesn’t move?”
This was… not the question that Stout was expecting. The confusion he felt must have shown on his face, as Bethany explained. “I’m new here to Thabit, and I don’t want to ask these questions to my co-workers and appear ignorant. I hope you don’t mind, given that you’ve been here for a while?” “No, I don't mind. Uhh ... the Corporation Le CS is from Earth and their headquarters are in a country called France. So even though we’re a tidally locked planet, which means the same part of our planet is always facing the sun, our colony’s corporate sponsor uses Earth Standard seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years, so we use the same measurements.” “Why not months as well?” Stout shrugged. “I heard that months have too many moving parts.” She shuffled the papers on her desk, and glanced at Stout again, trying to be casual but he knew what the next question was going to be. It was going to be something about why he looked different. “When did you migrate here?” “Native colonist, born and raised here on Thabit.” Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “But you don’t look like the other colonists!” Hah, he thought. Nailed it. The vast majority of the colonists were either from the Earth countries of France or Morocco, but Stout didn’t look like someone from either of those groups. Stout was short, muscular, with expressive bushy eyebrows and a receding hairline. Not to mention his beard was big enough to hide shoplifted watermelons. Keeping his voice neutral, he said, “Dad was from off-world.” She slit her eyes and nodded. “Ah, I understand. I take it he came here for the life extension spas and found something different? Happens all over the universe.” Clueless to any offense given, she barged ahead in the conversation. “And these solar flare thingies? Are they really dangerous?”By Stout’s count, he had survived over two hundred and fifty solar flares on this planet, but that’s not why he wanted to get into the academy and leave Thabit. “Depends on the flare. The little class-one flares you just have to be in the shade to be safe. Class-two flares you should be in a solid structure, like …” and he gestured at the bank they were sitting in. “... this. The big class-three flares only happen once a generation but those require deep shelter to escape them.” “Why can’t we use real tech here? Why am I stuck using this antique computer thingie?” “The Corporation. They stated they wanted Thabit to be an ‘authentic trip back in time’ for the tourists coming for the supposed life extension treatments.” She asked, “You don’t believe that those work?” “No, I don’t. The stories about original colonists from over one hundred and sixty years ago still roaming around has no proof. It’s just an urban legend the Corporation sold to the tourists.” “When I ask for directions, why do they keep saying things like it’s ‘sunward by sunleft from here’ instead of north east?” “Because the sun isn’t over the north pole? It’s complicated. Just know there are four main directions, and they’re all related to the sun. Sunward, sunleft, darkward, and sunright.” “Hmm. I guess I should read that ‘Welcome to Thabit’ file after all.” She turned back to her computer and started moving the mouse as if searching for something. Stout checked his phone. If he still hurried, he might make it to work on time. “So, about the loan so I can afford to get into the Academy, if you don’t have any other questions?” “Oh, that. No, I'm sorry, but we can’t loan you money to go to a spaceship training school if the first thing you’re going to do is leave the planet when you get it, right? We like to have people that owe us money be within reach. Do you have anything else to offer as collateral?”Stout shook his head in disbelief and negation, as they already knew about his savings and that didn’t even account for ten percent of the Academy’s tuition. Bethany stood and walked to the glass door of the office, opening it and making a subtle gesture outwards. “Still, Mr. Freund, it was great talking with you and I hope we can do business in the future?” Stout stood and wandered out of the office in a daze, his hopes and dreams crashing down around him.