Write a Book in a Day 2017

mood. Nova who was trying her hardest to encourage Will and his, frankly, dismal attempts to study. With a fifth wrong answer in a row on a practice exam he was completing, he slammed Nova ’s screen down in frustration and sighed. “I can’t do it, Nova ! I will never be an astronaut, I won’t be able to pass this stupid exam, and my parents will be disappointed in me for the rest of my life!” Will cried out in exasperation. “Don’t lose hope, Will. You just need to keep working hard, your parents know you can do it,” came the pre-programmed robotic voice of Nova , “now, open my screen up again.” Will did as he was told and the screen showed pictures of his family back home on Earth rather than the infuriating practice exam that was taking hours to complete. His mother dressed in her usual - casual jeans and simple blouse - and his father holding his baby sister who was laughing at the camera. They all looked so untroubled and eager in their home amongst the eucalyptus trees and casual kangaroos grazing in the background of their home in the Australian outback. Quite the opposite to Will’s awkward trainings and exam failures. Will didn’t want to disappoint them by being sent home from failing the astronaut training but so far it wasn’t looking good. In total, there were twenty-five cadets with strictly twenty being accepted into more exclusive astronaut training. Will had known from the beginning that five people were going to be sent back to Earth for failure to pass the Astronaut Examinations and it seemed that he was likely to be one of those unlucky five. Will had been trying, working laboriously since he got to the NASS, not wanting to disappoint his family or himself but he was currently ranked last out of all his peers. Will exhaled slowly, adjusted Nova ’s screen and tried to regain focus, he had to stay positive and keep a clear head.

“ Nova , pull up the practice exam from before,” Will requested with a forced determination, “and remind me to stay on task, I have to be in the top twenty.”

“Sure but a ‘please’ might be nice. Just breathe deeply and concentrate, your parents know you can do this,” answered Nova .

Just as Will started refocusing on what was in Nova’ s screen, the sound of voices close-by increased until very quickly they were clearly audible. He turned his head to the automatic dormitory door just in time to see it slide upwards swiftly and a few of his fellow cadets burst through, among them,

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