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7
He ran and ran and ran until the voices became echoes in his ear. He ran and
ran until the space station became a distant speck on the horizon. He ran and
never looked back. Raising dust behind him, he sped past the training fields
and the spaceship parking lot. He didn’t know where he was going or what he
was doing. All he knew was that he was done. He was done with this stupid
training at this stupid space station in the middle of nowhere. He was done
with the cheating cadets and the gruelling training and his uncaring teacher.
He was at the bottom of his class and he was going to be inevitably booted off
back to Earth, he may as well run away now. His legs began to seize up. A fine
layer of dust coated his helmet and his vision began to blur. Each breath
became more laboured. His lungs began to sting. His pace began to slow. Each
movement was taking more and more effort. He began to gulp down air. Each
second seemed to stretch out. He tripped over a jagged piece of rock. He
staggered. He fell.