Editing Story:ROAD TRIP! (Warhammer High)/Part Five (section)

===Message Service===


After a short flight back and a dinner in their rooms, the group parted ways for the evening, retiring to write home or just unspool…and in Alex’s case, walk off the champagne.  He opened his slate’s message box after settling in and noted its contents with surprise.  “Well, hello…two messages from…no, three messages from Terra.  One from Mom, two from New Cyprine.”

“What do the Cyprine ones say?” Freya asked from the other side of the bed.

“Hmm… ‘welcome, transfer student, to blah blah blah…we acknowledge your request to room with Lady Primarch Russ…durr durr durr…just acknowledgements and approvals.”  He opened the next one.  “Hmm.  The other one is a campus map and some information on where people coming from ships should go.”

“Wait, really?” Freya asked, scrambling over to stare at the slate.  “They acknowledge a freshman asking to room with me with a form letter?  Hah!  Wanna bet this was just some school admin drone’s busywork and he didn’t even look at the names?”

Alex chuckled.  “I don’t take sucker bets.”  He set the slate down on the bed before she could pull away and ran his hand over where the local had slapped her.  “Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked.

“I’m fine, I didn’t even feel it,” Freya said with a shrug.  “And they got theirs.”

“On Terra, you’d have kicked their shit in,” Alex pointed out.

“And this is Fenris.”  Freya sat down next to him.  “I’m fine, baby, really.”

Alex nodded.  “All right.”  He picked the slate back up.  “Hmm.  One from Mom…she got a form letter from Cyprine asking for confirmation and so forth…I listed her as my emergency contact,” Alex explained.

“All right.”  Freya sipped from the ice water on the nightstand.  “You gonna send a reply?” she asked.

Alex sighed again.  “No.”

“Really?  Is your Mom not going to want to know what’s up?” Freya inquired, cocking her head.

“Probably, but…” Alex trailed off.  “I’m just putting it off, aren’t I?”  He tapped his hand on the slate.  “All right…I’ll record the message then send it later, so it’s not hanging over her when we’re coming home.”

Freya paused him, squeezing his hand with a concerned look in her eyes.  “How can I help?  Or should I even be here?”

Alex looked away.

“All right.”  She rose from the bed.  “I’ll just watch a movie with Jake and Venus or something.  Take your time.”

“Thanks, babe,” Alex said, already dreading his task.

As Freya closed the door, he downed the rest of her water, trying to calm his nerves.  “All right, Mom…” he said under his breath.  “Let’s hear it.”  He opened his transcriptor.


“Hi, Mom, it’s Alex…obviously…” he muttered.  He closed and deleted the recording.  “Take two…”  He pressed the record button again.  “Hi Mom.  Not sure when you’ll get this, the tides are pretty high, but I should be home fairly soon, and I wanted to make sure you got this in case I went straight off to Orientation with Freya.  I’m safe on Fenris, if that’s even possible.”  He stood up and started pacing.  “Last few days have been pretty crazy.  I’ll hold off on a full explanation until we’re home, though.”  He paused his wandering and swallowed.

“Mom…when we were on Nocturne, Dad tracked me down.  I specifically told the son of a bitch not to, but he did, and now…”  His words failed for a moment, and he paused the recording to choke off a sob.  Bitterness and regret rose to choke off his voice.  When it passed, he resumed.  “It was right before we left.  We were at dinner, and Dad…Dad said…fuck him to hell, he didn’t even say it to me.  He said to some random fucking stranger…‘I had to choose between inheriting the Fleet and going to college.’”  Alex squeezed his eyes shut.  “I asked him what he meant, and he repeated himself.  I snapped, I said I wouldn’t make that choice, and I stormed off.  He disinherited me.”

Alex slumped down on his bed.  “I’ve agreed…hang on,” he said, stabbing the slate again.  The recording paused as he wiped away tears.  “I agreed to live with Freya at Cyprine…I bet I told you.  God…Freya is about the only thing keeping me sane right now,” he sighed.  “I love her…”

He trailed off, aware he was becoming maudlin in front of his mother. “All right. Well…” He opened his eyes again, staring at his clenched hands and consciously relaxing them. “Mom, I wanted you to know because…well, it’s pretty obvious. Dad’s made his choice…” he laughed bitterly. “Ah, well. I’ll see you when I get home, I promise. I love you, Mom,” he said, turning off the recorder.

Freya was watching a holo with the others when Alex knocked. She rose and padded to the door, taking in his drained and unhappy sense with a single sniff. “All right…I’m done,” he said heavily.

“Don’t be alone,” Freya declared. She held the door open to let him in. “Watch unbearably bad zombie movies with us.” Alex managed a feeble grin and followed her into the room, where the others were huddled around Venus’ slate.

“What are we watching?” Alex asked as he sat beside the others.

“Tonight’s film is ‘The Incredibly Evil Birds,’” Venus announced, sliding her glasses on to halt the glare from her eyes.

“That exists?” Alex asked.

“Unfortunately,” Remilia said. Alex smiled at the sight of the four others lying together on the bed, staring at the propped-up slate from the other end.
He withdrew his vox and snapped a picture. “There.”

“What was that?” Venus asked.

Alex sat down beside the others. “Just commemorating this.”