Touchstone 1 - Stray

were all standing in the middle in a circle, and didn’t glance at me as I came up. Kajal’s a big guy, maybe 6‘4”, and the rest of his team are pretty close to as tall. Even though I’d learned from Seventh Squad that I shouldn’t have to worry about official on-the-record test sessions, I still felt a bit nervous. And then annoyed, because even though there wasn’t a chance they didn’t know I was there, Kajal left me standing at his elbow while he finished telling his squad something not particularly interesting-sounding about their next day’s rotation.
    “Right then,” he said, at last. “Let’s get started. Nise, you’re first up.”
    They moved away, only one of the guys staying near me (he had great hair: spiky with dark blue tips). He waited till Kajal nodded at him, then grabbed my shoulder for a moment and began testing a Telekinesis talent. It went on like that for all of them. None of them spoke to me or nodded to me or anything like that. Every one of them gripped my shoulder in the exact same way – not roughly or hard or anything, but enough for me to feel it through the uniform’s padding. All the other squads, since the first day with First Squad, have barely touched me, usually brushing the back of a hand against my arm. It couldn’t be coincidence that every single one of Fifth Squad approached enhancement so differently, though it’s really hard to imagine them sitting around deciding this would be a worthwhile exercise.
    Then we went into the Ena to test Ena-specific talents. Since Kajal continued to address all his remarks generally, so they could be interpreted to include me, I followed along behind, wondering if what he was trying to do was get me to kick up a fuss or act upset or what. We always do Ena tests in the grassy space First Squad took me to, which is both easy to get to and seemingly permanently clear of Ionoth. There was nothing different about what Fifth Squad did for their testing there, except they walked in front of me on the way, striding along at a pace I didn’t expect, so that I trailed them by a few feet.
    That was a mistake, I think. Sure, there was pretty much no chance anything was going to attack me, but it looked like they were being lax and had forgotten they were supposed to be protecting me. I hope they get demerits. And when we were back in real-space, they just walked off without another word.
    I took myself off to medical, and tried to figure out why Fifth had bothered. To intimidate or upset me, yeah, but why? What does it gain to make me feel uncomfortable? It did work. I spent most of the time feeling embarrassed and angry. They acted like my enhancement was something bad, a thing causing them inconvenience. Like they were barely tolerating that they had to work with me.
    Perhaps they expect me to complain? For a lot of the time I felt like it, but I don’t even see the point. I don’t feel safe working with them in the Ena, but I’m unlikely to be assigned to another generalist squad if they do change who I work with. I figure I’ll either be kept with First Squad or swapped between the big hitters and the Sight specialists as the need arises. I don’t know. I want to bitch and complain about it, but there’s no-one I can do that with. Everyone on First Squad would have to deal with it officially if I whined about it, and so would Zan if I laid it on her.
    I guess, if I brood on it too much, they’ll have won. So I’ll try to forget all about it, and not worry unless they show up on my schedule again.
    It’s occurred to me that, in gaming terms, I’m an escort quest. So funny. And Fifth Squad are hardcore pvp-ers who think quests are a waste of time. Tools.
    Wednesday, February 27
    Cancelled
    Today was supposed to be Boxes Rotation, but when I woke up this morning I had no appointments for the rest of the week. I’ve gone all paranoid that this means they’ve decided to assign me away from First Squad.
    I guess this is an opportunity to catch up on all the school work I’ve been ignoring, which I will get to right after I’m done with some important worrying and sulking.

March
    Sunday, March 2
    Aether
    ‘Aether’ is an Earth word, I’m sure of it. Or, at least, ‘ether’ is, and I know that’s an anaesthetic, but there’s another definition. I’ve read it in fantasy novels, used for the ‘atmosphere’ in one of the afterlifes or something. There’s a phrase, ‘off in the aether’ isn’t there? Aether is a