-BLAZE-

  Blaze first began hearing voices when he was a child. Back then, he heard the voices every single day. Now they only came when he was really worn out.

  Initially, he had thought the voices were a figment of his imagination, but now he knew they were real. They weren’t a sign of mental illness. They belonged to the creatures living inside him. The voices were their memories.

  From what Blaze had heard, he actually had it good. Memory magic could be terrible for some people. He had been told stories of people who were totally taken over by the creatures they transformed into.

  It was why Blaze’s father had emphasized control to him. Blaze and his father had trained for years on controlling his transformations. Blaze believed that was the main reason he had as much control as he did. Other people were not as lucky as he had been to be born into the family he was.

  The voices only came to Blaze when he was exhausted, and he was exhausted right now. The physical evaluation had taken more out of him than it should have. When the voices came, they were low; a slight gnawing in the back of his mind that he tried to ignore.

  The gnawing began to die down as he waited to obtain his final clearance from the medical department.

  He watched as a clerk checked a box on the computer that said: Fully fit.

  I'm not so sure about that, Blaze thought. But he didn’t voice any objections. The quicker he was cleared, the quicker he could get back into the field.

  The only thing that remained was the psychological evaluation. Blaze was usually excellent at that part. Dr. Mensa was the one who administered the psychological evaluations, and she already had a high regard for Blaze. Though she didn’t like Ben much. Blaze chuckled as he remembered some of the unflattering comments Dr. Mensa had passed about Ben.

  "Agent Blazecorra," the clerk called out.

  Blaze turned around.

  "Did you hear me?" the clerk asked.

  Blaze smiled sheepishly. "I’m sorry," he said. "Did you ask me a question?"

  "No," the clerk said. She looked annoyed, so Blaze tried widening his smile. She continued, "I mentioned that Dr. Mensa wouldn’t be able to do your evaluation," she said.

  "Oh okay," Ben responded. "So will we reschedule?"

  "No. Your Vice Captain is qualified to do evaluations. She has confirmed her availability. She will do it for you."

  That was the last thing Blaze wanted to hear. He had been avoiding Vice Captain Hunta ever since he got injured. She asked far too many smart questions.

  The clerk was sitting behind a counter, fiddling with something on her computer. Blaze lingered in front of the desk, and awkwardly drummed a beat on the counter.

  She turned to look at him. "Sorry," she said. "I should have told you where she was. She’s in her office."

  Blaze already knew that. It didn’t make sense for the Vice Captain to be anywhere else. That wasn’t why he lingered.

  He looked at the clerk’s nametag. Her name was Lindy. Blaze chided himself for not reading it earlier. That was rude. Especially now that he needed her help.

  "Lindy," he started. "I would like to postpone my psychological evaluation."

  "I’m afraid I can’t do that," Lindy responded.

  Blaze frowned. That didn’t make sense. It was his evaluation. He should have been able to do it when he felt ready. He told Lindy that, and she nodded.

  "You’re right," she said. "But your Vice Captain called ahead. She predicted this answer, and she told me to tell you that it doesn’t matter where you go, or if Dr. Mensa is available. She will always be the one to do your psychological evaluation from now on."

  "That sounds… illegal," Blaze noted.

  "It would have been," Lindy replied. "But she had a signed order from your Captain to go with it. There’s not much wiggle room with that."

  Blaze sighed. Captain Doe betrayed him yet again.

  He didn’t have many options left. For a split second, the thought of just never going for the evaluation came to mind. He quickly dismissed that idea. He had no choice. He would go see Vice Captain Hunta.

  -BREAK-

  As usual, Blaze and the Vice Captain played a game before starting their conversation. They sat in her office, a nice plush space within the main bloc of the Stellar Authority headquarters.

  The game they played was Galactic Chess. It was an evolution of the old Earth game. Galactic Chess was more complicated and adapted to simulate interstellar space warfare.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Blaze had been five years old the last time he had lost at Galactic Chess. He became the champion of his home world at the age of eleven.

  From what he heard, the Vice Captain was also a genius of the game. She became champion of her home world at seventeen years old.

  Like Blaze, she didn’t pursue galactic titles. She was eighteen when she joined the Stellar Authority.

  The first time they met, Vice Captain Hunta challenged Blaze to a game. She had been trying to beat him since that day. She didn’t win this game either. The moment her loss became inevitable, she sighed and set the board aside.

  "So your cognitive functions are working well," she said. "I’m glad."

  Blaze smiled.

  Vice Captain Hunta was a neat freak. Everyone knew it, though no one said it to her face. She always wore a well pressed uniform coupled with the regulation uniform hat.

  Everyone else treated the hat as a suggestion; a suggestion they didn’t take, but Captain Hunta always wore the hat. Blaze had to admit the overall look complimented her pale skin and caramel eyes very well.

  "Shall we begin the evaluation?" she asked Blaze.

  "What happens if I say no?"

  Hunta shrugged. "Then the evaluation doesn’t proceed. And you don’t get cleared. You don’t get to go back into the field. Is ‘no’ your final answer?"

  Blaze shook his head. He felt like a prisoner. It was a very frustrating feeling. He looked the Vice Captain in the eyes.

  "Why are we doing this, VC?" he asked.

  "Because I’m worried about you," Hunta replied.

  Blaze looked away. "Ben was the one who lost his friend," he said.

  "Fen was your friend too," Hunta reminded him. "But that’s not what I’m talking about. I hear Silver had a telepath with him."

  Of course she knew that. Blaze sighed. Ben must have included it in his report.

  "What else did you hear?" Blaze asked her.

  "I heard the telepath got her hooks into you. She got down to your core memories, and your mana memories. I heard she made you lose control."

  Blaze closed his eyes.

  He had intended to forget about the incident. He wanted to bury it in the past, and not think about it. But he knew Hunta would bring it up if she knew. That was how she was. Captain Doe was fine with ignoring things, but Hunta wanted to talk about everything.

  "I’m fine," Blaze said.

  "You lost control."

  "I didn’t," Blaze corrected. His words came out harsher than he had intended. He took a deep breath. "I’m sorry," he said. "But I didn’t. I transformed because she was in my head, and she only got in my head because I was pinned down and exhausted. Anyone else would have… ‘lost control’." He made the actual air quotes.

  Hunta didn’t seem convinced, but it was hard to tell, since she seemed to always have the same stoic expression.

  "You’re right," she said, "But not everyone has that constant fear of losing control. That situation wouldn’t have been as intimate for someone else. You know you consistently have that risk. That is why I am worried."

  "I’m fine," Blaze repeated. "Nothing to worry about."

  "Mmm."

  "We can start the evaluation," Blaze said.

  "Mmm."

  Blaze wasn’t sure what Mmm meant, but the Vice Captain proceeded to ask him a series of questions about his mood, emotions, thoughts and aspirations.

  Blaze gave her the textbook answers. He knew that she knew what he was doing, but it didn’t matter to him. When they were done, Hunta crossed her arms and sat back.

  "You pass," she said flatly. "Congratulations. I will inform the medical department, and they will give you your final clearance."

  Blaze nodded. He waited for a moment, but she didn’t add anything.

  Okay then, he thought.

  "Thank you VC," he said out loud. He began to leave.

  "I hope you know I only do this because I care," Hunta said.

  Blaze paused and considered her words. It was true that the Vice Captain had never done anything to harm him. She was very much like his mother; caring in a way that smothered.

  "I know," Blaze responded. She didn’t stop him as he exited the office. He made his way back to the medical wing.

  When he arrived, he was given his final clearance and sent to retrieve his personal items. He found them in his locker, packed into a backpack. It didn’t take long to realise Hunta had been the one to pack the things.

  Everything in the pack was arranged precisely: four folded shirts, two trousers and even some underwear. Hunta had gone all the way to include two bars of Moonblast chocolate, Blaze’s favourite. Blaze unwrapped one chocolate bar and bit into it.

  He sighed. It was delicious.

  He continued rummaging through the bag and found a compartment reserved for cards and small devices.

  He opened it and pulled out his Stellar Authority communicator. It was called a Pager, named after a very old device in the past. The Pager fit neatly in his palm. He turned it on, then placed it in his pocket, and continued searching the bag.

  The Pager began to beep.

  Blaze frowned. Why was someone calling him already?

  He lifted up the device and saw that the call was coming from the shooting range manager.

  That was very strange. Blaze and the man were friends but not ‘call me as soon as I wake up from a three-month-long coma’ friends.

  Blaze accepted the call.

  "Blaze? Hello? Are you there? Someone told me you were up." The shooting range manager sounded panicked.

  "Yes," Blaze replied. "I’m up."

  "Great," the manager said. "Ben is here right now. At the range."

  "Oh."

  That was strange. Everyone knew Ben liked to keep to his schedules. He only went shooting in the early morning. It was almost night-time.

  The manager continued, "He's not missing any shots."

  "Oh," Blaze said again. That meant Ben was very angry.

  "Yes," the manager said. "I didn’t know who to call. I thought you were the best bet."

  "I see," Blaze replied. There was something missing from the story, and Blaze asked about it. "Manager?"

  "Yeah?"

  "I get that Ben's angry and he kinda stops thinking when that happens, but why are you calling me?"

  The manager took a deep breath before responding. "There's a group of Falcon pilots at the range," he said. "They look like they want to talk to him."

  Okay, Blaze thought. That’s trouble.

  "I'm on my way," he said. He broke into a run, and yelled into the Pager. "I'll get there in fifteen minutes"

  "Make it five."

  Blaze cut the call and sped up.