Special Notes: These stories won’t make it in the book, I just feel like rounding Ryota out a bit, I think he will be a very important character later. “Stand up!” “Check equipment!” Ryota checked his equipment and turned to check the Cadet behind him. The green lights were on and the drop ramp open. He could see the ocean outside the ship, it was angry and the waves were the largest he had ever seen. This was a big test tonight, there was no second chance on this one, if you failed, you would get sent home. There was still a few more minutes and Ryota pulled the mission brief out of his pocket and looked at it again, other Cadets were looking at theirs as well. He knew the mission, it was burned in his brain, they had studied all week for this test. Ryota checked the waterproof cards and the photo of the crash victim’s face he would be searching for. The scenario was that a diplomatic ship had crashed into the ocean; the passengers were all mammals and couldn’t survive in the water for long. Despite what many people think, a spacecraft can’t withstand more than one atmosphere, it would easily crush under the pressure of the ocean, but escape pods could survive up to twelve atmospheres for a short time. The diplomatic passengers had used the escape pods at the last minute before the ship had broken up on the surface of the ocean and crashed. Those victims were now somewhere on the bottom of the ocean in their escape pods awaiting rescue; finding them would be what this test was really all about. Each member of his Cadet Company had a one kilometer square to search, in the dark, and dangerous water. They had to find the silver capsules and bring the diplomats back up to the surface. The real twist was that the silver escape pods were actually down there, and each pod had an instructor inside with an instruction card that told them what their reaction would be. Ryota hoped he didn’t get a panicked victim; that would make it really hard. He was really hoping for something simple like an unconscious victim. “Get Ready!” shouted the Drop Master. Ryota faced the rear of the ship, towards the ramp, and waited. Mos’Ne, his friend, turned around and gave him thumbs up. Ryota returned the good luck and turned his attention back to making sure he was ready. The green light came on and the first Cadet ran down the ramp and jumped; the green lamp turned back to red. Two minutes later the light turned green and the next Cadet ran down the ramp and jumped the fifty feet into the ocean. Ryota moved towards the ramp until it was his turn. He watched everything at once, the light, the ocean, the Drop Master, even the sky outside the ship. A warm blast of air, smelling like oil and engine full, drifted in with the cold air coming off the ocean. The light turned green. “Go Go Go!” yelled the Drop Master slapping Ryota on the thigh to make sure he got the signal to jump. Ryota ran down the ramp and jumped hard, he had to jump thirty-six inches away from the ramp so not to get turned wrong by the suction of the ship moving away. The water rushed up and Ryota plunged into the cold water.