It was friday. Hopefully his application for the School of Space Aeronautics would have come today. Ken rushed over to the EISDN terminal. The terminal had the slowest response time of any public system. Probably because it was based mainly on the old PAX systems. The Enhanced Integrated Services Digital Networks helped a bit but the system was still very slow.
After going through the initial login routines Ken opened his mailbox. Bingo! There was a message for him. He immideatly transfered the message. He pushed out a hard-copy of it and ran out to the kitchen.

"Tanisha! Look, I got the letter from the SSA".

"Well read it Ken. Let's see if you really made it!"

Ken read through it and smiled.

"I made it" he said. "By golly, I made it!"

Tanisha gave him a big kiss.

"Oh I'm so proud of you!" she said. "When do you start?"

"Let's see...The training period starts at Mount Wellion the 19th of September."

Mount Wellion was the location of the SSA's huge launch site for experimental space crafts, and the 19th of September was just weeks away.

The 18th of September came, and Ken and Tanisha had packed all his stuff and had just gone to bed. Tanisha, who as usual did not need to sleep that much, just waited for Ken to tell her that he couldn't sleep. About five minutes later he did.

"Aw shit.I can't sleep. I'm just too excited I guess" he said.

"Don't worry baby. It'll be just fine. You'll meet a lot of new friends and have a great time. Just close your eyes and sleep."

Tanisha's sweet voice was the last Ken could remember.

The next morning the alarm clock woke Ken a bit too early for what he was used to.

"Turn that darn alarm off Tansiha. Let's get back to sleep" "No Ken! Get up you lazy creep!" she shouted.

While Ken was sleeping face down in his Chocolate Glazed Nutrasweet Cornflakes, Tanisha told Ken's mother all about their plans. She had rented a nice appartment just outside Mount Wellion, and they would live there while Ken went to school at the SSA. She also had the opportunity to work as a test pilot at Mount Wellion when she wanted. After inhaling about a pint of Nutrasweet Cornflakes, Ken suddenly woke up and shouted "Let's go!"

"Sit down Ken" Tanisha said, "It's still about an hour before the MagnaTrain leaves"

"And you got me out of bed this early just to tell me that I'll have to do nothing for one more hour ?!"

"Well, let's go anyway then. We'll stop down town for a pizza or something chinese" Tanisha said.

Down town people had just started opening their stores and cleaning their display windows. It didn't rain so instead the smell of fried chicken and exotic spices filled the air of the downtown area.
They found a shop that sold Chicken with Curry and bought some. The chicken was of course artificial, and Ken had his doubts on the curry too. After that quick snack they hired a Rickshaw to get them to the station. Just after reaching the station it began to rain again.

"I hear they don't have that much rain up in Mount Wellion, Ken" Tanisha said.

"Yeah, well, it's gonna be great to actually see the sun every now and then. Now where is that friggin' train ?"

Since there was no electronic boards, like on the air ports, that told you where and when the trains were going, you just had to find out for yourself.

"I guess this is the one" Ken said.

"Sure is. Let's put our bags on that conveyer belt over there"

Someone must have seen the SSA sticker on one of Ken's bags, because just as Ken was about to throw his bag on to the conveyer belt, he heard a voice from behind.

"So you're one of them space pilot hot-shots, are you ?"

Ken turned and looked directly into the twisted face of an old man. "No, but I'm going to be" Ken answered.

"Headed for Mount Wellion then ?"

"That's right" The stench from the old man was unbearable.

"Well, so am I" the old man said.

"Aren't you just a bit to old to start at the SSA ?"

"Oh, I'm not with them bozos. I live in Mount Wellion"

"It's time to get on now Ken" Tanisha dragged him to the train. Luckily the old man didn't have a seat in the same car as they did.

"Did you feel the smell from that guy?" Ken laughed

"Pheeewee!"

The train taxed out from the station area and on to the track. The train stopped for a quick second and then started to accelerate. The humming sound of the MagnaTrain's engines made Ken very very sleepy. And he fell asleep in Tanisha's lap. Some five or six hours later Ken woke up as the train slowed down before the station. The bus that was to pick them up had arrived and Tanisha got on it. The main building of the SSA complex was just a few hundred meters away from the station, but someone obviously didn't want them to walk very far. The entrance hall was covered with pictures of constantly updating fractal images. They walked over to the information desk.

"What's your name" said the lady behind the counter. Ken gave her his id-cards and papers, and she pulled his card through the card reader.

"Ok, Ken. Just wait over in the reception lounge over there. Sergeant Mulher will see you in a minute."

"Wow! These guys must get a lot of funding from the government! Look at them trees over there. They're real trees!" Ken was amazed.

"Yeah. But the secretary was a replicant"

"Well, good secretaries are hard to come by these days"

About a minute later a uniformed man came over to them. "Good afternoon" he said "You must be Ken"

"That's right" Ken stood up. "And you must be Muhler, right?"

"That's Sergeant Muhler to you boy! And get your legs moving son, we haven't got all day!"

Ken quickly kissed Tanisha good-bye and ran after the sergeant. "Remember to call me when you're finished, Ken!"