My private room was ready within a few minutes of my getting back to the barrack. I was escorted to the second floor of the building, a few privates carrying my footlocker behind us, and shown into a room not much larger than a walk-in closet. It had a bed, a nightstand with a phone labeled ‘in-bound calls only’, a nook that somehow counted as a closet, and a narrow dresser.

“We’ll see about an upgrade to the accommodations,” I was told, “but or now this will do.”

They put my footlocker at the foot of the bed and then left me alone. Now I lay on my bed in my private room, crying silently to myself and wondering if this was better or worse than lying on my bed in the barrack. On the one hand, no one else was around to hear me cry. On the other hand, no one else was around to provide any sort of comfort. Did I want to be alone or not? I couldn’t decide which was worse.

The phone on the nightstand began to ring. With effort I got myself to roll over on the bed. This phone had a speakerphone option and I gently pressed the button to answer the call.

“Hello?” I said, striving to sound as normal as possible.

“Private Nayak,” a calm woman’s voice that I didn’t recognize spoke. “We’ve arranged for your father to come for a visit. He will be arriving tomorrow and will stay for one week. During that time you will not be required to participate in any training.”

“Thank you,” I managed.

“You’re welcome, good bye.”

She hung up.

That was probably the least human interaction I’d had the entire time I’d been here and was emblematic of how disconnected everything felt around here. We weren’t people to them. We were tools, weapons. Maybe that was the point. It would be easier for me if I just thought of myself like that, and thought of everyone else like that as well. It’s easy to throw a tool across the room, and if it breaks you just get another one. Entirely different when they’re people instead.

Images of the supers I’d fought earlier flashed again in my vision and I twitched where I lay, staring intently at the far wall and trying to focus on it hard enough that it became all I could see. Anything to get those images out of my head.

There was a knock at my door. I sat up, wiping my eyes and calming my breathing.

“Come in,” I said.

The door opened and Colonel Trenton walked in. He was the last person I wanted to see right now. He was followed by a private carrying a chair. I hurried to my feet and saluted. Colonel Trenton pointed and the private set the chair down beside my bed.

“Wait outside,” he told the private who stepped out, closing the door behind him. “Sit down,” he said, motioning to my bed.

I sat and Colonel Trenton sat down on the chair before fixing me with his cold eyes. I found myself wondering if he was an evil man, or just uncaring.

“Private Nayak,” he began slowly, “what we do here is not easy. I recognize you’re young and perhaps was unaware of what you were getting yourself into when you came here. That’s partially my fault, I admit. I recruited you here right after your ordeal at the island. I thought that was evidence enough that you were ready to join us. I still believe you are right to be here. You’re brave, intelligent, and resourceful. Those are the qualities that make for a great soldier. I think some of our training here, however, has gotten out of hand due in part to an over-reliance on healers. I want you to understand that there will be a review of what happened today and that changes will be made.”

I nodded along as he spoke, mostly hearing him and feeling some relief at his words. I was still guarded, though, not forgetting the tone and the threats he’d used only a short time ago.

“When your father arrives, the two of you will be staying at a different facility a few miles from here. That will be for his safety so the two of you can move about without fear of him getting caught up in any crossfire. It’s where out non-super administrators stay when they’re not here so you’ll be the only super. I trust you’ll be able to manage a week without causing too much damage.”

“Yes, sir,” I replied when he paused and looked at me meaningfully.

“Good,” he went on. “I should also note that while your father is here you will be expected to refrain from going into detail about your training here. The graphic nature of what you’ve experienced should not be considered normal and word of it getting out would be problematic. If you do tell him, his memory will need to be modified before he returns home.

“Once the visit is over, you’ll resume your training. After three months, you’ll get a week off where you’ll be allowed to leave and visit with your family. Every three months you’ll get a week off. You can travel, visit family, whatever you like. You’ll be expected to maintain your professionalism during your time off, but you’ll be more or less free to do as you please.”

A lot of this sounded like what he’d said before about giving me time off and such, only more concrete. He must really want me to stay and not resist. I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. It felt like manipulation, which I guess any social interaction was a form of manipulation, but I didn’t like how it was making me feel. Still, if training was going to be less intense, and I’d have definite vacations to look forward to, I supposed I could manage to hang in there since the alternative was to live as a prisoner here.

“Thank you sir,” I said after a moment.

“During you time away from base,” he added more as an afterthought, “you may be contacted by certain people about leaving the country and joining a foreign nation. They might offer you a lot of things to try and entice you away. Doing so would be seen as treachery in a very real, very illegal way. If anyone approaches you in such a way you are to refuse them and then report it immediately to your commanding officer. Failure to do so will result in serious consequences, including hunting you down and eliminating you. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir,” I nodded.

“Good. Then I’ll leave you to the rest of your day. If you need anything, let us know.”

With that he got up and walked out, the private from before came in and retrieved the chair. As the door shut behind them I felt myself begin to relax. I wasn’t better, per se, but at least a decision of sorts had been made. I had a week with my dad to look forward to and training wouldn’t be the stuff of nightmares, assuming Colonel Trenton was indeed enacting the changes he’d mentioned.

It wasn’t very late in the day and I hadn’t gotten up particularly early but considering everything that had happened, I lay back down on my bed and fell asleep.

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