Read Online The Chaplain's War by Brad R. Torgersen - Free Book Online

that you’re more interested in me living the kind of life that will make you happy. Something nice, and plain, and ordinary.”
    Dad’s grip on my arm tightened.
    “Do you have any idea how much hard work it takes to build and maintain the sort of life we all enjoy here, in this house? Do you? No, of course you don’t. Which is really my fault. I should have made you get a job when you were old enough to work and still carry a class load. But your mother was afraid it would interfere with your studies. Now you listen to me, Harry. In this life, everything takes effort. Nothing is given to you. You look around at our life here and you think it’s boring. Well, that’s the opinion of a teenager. Your mother and I? We put in long hours every week to make sure it stays that way. Because you don’t want to find out what a not-boring life looks like. Trust me.”
    I’d heard it before—just variations on a tired theme. My dad had grown up poor, the child of a single mother struggling with addiction demons. My grandmother had died before I was old enough to really remember her, but my dad always talked about his childhood being a rather barren thing, compared to mine.
    “You think the only alternative to boring is recklessness,” I said to him. “I don’t want to be reckless. I just want . . . I want to find out what more is there in the world than here. Why is that so bad?”
    His grip slowly released. His eyes—with bags under them—grew soft.
    “No, that’s not bad, son. I remember feeling that way when I was your age. Just . . . this Fleet thing, you don’t really know what you’d be getting into. Nobody does.”
    “The mantis aliens are real,” I said. “Fleet seems to be the only thing capable of doing anything about them.”
    “True,” my mother said. “But like your father just told you, a military career is one of those choices best suited for people who don’t have many options. You do have options.”
    “If I had the option I wanted,” I said, “I’d sign up for one of the colony expeditions. Go to the stars.”
    “If you work hard and get an advanced degree,” my dad said, “maybe that will be something you can look into. In time. Seems to me Fleet’s just a shortcut to that goal. You’ve lived an easy life so far, Harry. You won’t like the military. Trust me.”
    “How do you know, Dad? You never served.”
    “I know,” he said, staring intently at me. “You’ll hate it.”
    I stared right back at him, quietly fuming. Part of me wanted to go back to the cafeteria and sign up with the Fleet tomorrow, just to lock myself in and make it so that Dad couldn’t say another word otherwise. I was already of age. I could make the choice for myself.
    But then, a little lingering voice in the back of my mind wondered if Dad wasn’t right? Maybe I would hate it? Worse yet, what if I hated it so much that I just couldn’t take it, and I washed out? What kind of face would I be seeing in the mirror then?
    I looked at the recruiter’s card, still clutched in Dad’s other hand.
    “Look,” I said, “it was just a thing, okay? I was curious. I didn’t put my signature on any dotted lines.”
    “Good,” my mother said. “See that you don’t. You’re not even out of school yet. You have to focus on these last few weeks. Now help me set the table, because dinner’s going to be ready very soon.”
    I did as I was told, and went to bed after the late meal—still wondering about what I might do.
    The next morning, during first period, class was interrupted for a breaking news bulletin. The president and the secretary of defense were both shown at the White House podium, somberly reporting that the colony of New America had also been attacked. Again, by the mantis aliens. It was unknown whether there were any human survivors. Plans for a counteroffensive in the wake of the attack on Marvelous were now being redoubled, because it was clear the entirety of human space might be under