"In the year 2895, nations across three continents collaborated to establish an academy for training space explorers and time travelers, known as Chrononauts. Our Pegasus Academy was born from this collaboration. Now, we find ourselves in the year 2930 ...," lectured the silver-haired man as he displayed a video on the screen. Almost all the candidates' attention was focused on him, except for someone seated in the last row in the corner of the room.
"Hey, Justin," whispered the dark-skinned, afro-haired young man as he poked the shoulder of Justin who was sitting in front of him.
Justin glanced back. "What's up, Kev?"
"I heard Double D is catching up to your points, with only fifteen points apart?" Kevin Hall asked, curious.
Justin sighed. "Yeah, I messed up during the simulation lesson."
Kevin grinned. "You're still in the first place, so don't worry. Look at me, I'm chill even though I'm at the bottom."
"Why?" Justin raised an eyebrow.
Kevin responded, "Because I know I can't get a higher rank since I'm far away from my mom."
Justin's lips twitched. "What's that got to do with your rank?"
"It's definitely related. You know my mom lives alone, right?! That makes me always think about her every second." Kevin paused for a moment, pondering. "If Pegasus were on Earth, maybe my ranking would be better than it is now."
Justin shook his head. "No way. You see, spaceships run on stellarium, which is only found on Mars. Shipping stellarium to Earth would rack up crazy costs, hence why they set up the academy on Mars."
Before Kevin could respond, the teacher interrupted, "Justin, Kevin, your points are down by twenty!"
Justin frowned, muttering, "Damn."
Spotting Justin, Kevin tried to hold back his laughter. "Well, you're in second place now—"
"Minus twenty points for you, Kev!" the teacher exclaimed, then muttered, "This pilot class is annoying, unlike the co-pilot class."
The incident elicited laughter from all the candidates in the classroom, but it only seemed to aggravate the teacher further. Throughout the lesson, the teacher could be heard muttering, and by the end of the class, he gave a surprise quiz with questions that had never been taught before. The atmosphere in the classroom had shifted to one of tension and apprehension as the students grappled with the unexpected turn of events.