Reasons

Reasons

“Name?”

 “Aiden Talmid.”

 “Date of birth?”

 He provided it.

 The military man holding the boy's passport looked from it to the boy, back to the passport, and back to the boy.

 "Son," he began, his tone softened after that of the previous exchange's as he handed him back his passport. "I don't know how they let you on that bus here, and I don't need to know, but the Crux System is no place for you at your age. By our policy, you need eighteen years of age to join the Nexus Force." The gaze he fixed him was stern again. "By the numbers, you're a third of that shy."

 "But sir," Aiden responded, "I could take a non-combat position. Besides, I'm really here looking for Killian Talmid, my uncle. He joined a few years ago-"

 The military man put a hand on Aiden's shoulder. "This world values honesty, son. Kids your age just wanna play war. You don't know what war is. Every position is a combat position. You join, you're no longer a man. You're a machine. You get orders, you follow orders. If you want orders, I'll grace you with one, now. Go home and enjoy your life."

 He spun Aiden around and promptly shoved him back. "Next!" he called to the line of Elistran recruits, who regarded the rejected Aiden with looks and glances, some furtive, frowns, and disapproving, shaking heads.

 Shaking his own head back at them, Aiden rubbed the fuzz on his jawline. Some worlds' peoples matured faster than others, he thought it had to do with the amount of sunlight they got. He was also tall for his age, he could pass for an older man, only the numbers on his passport gave him away.

 From the nearby park overlooking the Nexus Force recruitment line, Aiden watched as the lines slowly progressed. More Nexus Force sponsored buses came by the hour, depositing dwindling amounts of Elistrans to the campaign. Had Killian endured the same ordeal? Minus the hassle of age, of course. The older man was a good thirteen years Aiden's senior.

 Shielding his eyes against the glare of Elistra's brilliant trinary sunset, Aiden was finally graced to see the military man had been replaced by a military woman. More buses had arrived now, carrying Elistran laborers fresh off the second shift. He injected himself into the crowd of three disembarking buses and sorted himself into the eventual line. An hour later, his conversation with the military woman went as follows.

 "Name?"

 "Don't have one."

 "Date of birth?"

"Years ago."

 "Passport?"

 "Don't have one."

 The military woman looked the boy up and more up, noting both his greater amount of height and greater amount of facial hair.

 "We'll give you a name. Go to terminal 5B, then the transport to Avant Gardens. Welcome to the Nexus Force."

 Twenty-four hours later, secured in the Gardens' Sentinel Base Camp, Aiden took out his Elistran passport. Turning through its pages, he considered what he was about to do one more time, before throwing the passport into the Base's main campfire. It was sad, but logistically no major loss. Intrepid Fusion Eclipse would get a new one.