"Last day... Just need to prepare some things and I'm off this planet." With this mindset I endured. This was going to be my last 18 hours on this godforsaken place.

I took another neurostimulant to try and keep me awake for the final stretch. Another 18 compared to the 67 I already sat through, how hard can it possibly be?

I chuckled at myself, laughing at a nonexistent punchline. Walking out the door to go to the educational facility for trade and commerce, I drank some highly caffinated canned coffee to reduce the chances of falling asleep even more. I can barely focus my eyesight anymore, it all starts to become a hazy blur. The harsh winter sun only worsened that, making me squint my eyes involuntarily. I lost track of time when walking toward the educational facility. I was too focused on trying to sort out the incoherent thought trains I had to notice anything, which almost made me trip over multiple times.

I entered the ginormous building and went to the 22th floor, went to my class, set up my books, and spent the rest of my day pretending I was studying, all the while getting more and more paranoid over any mechanical issues my spaceship might have. This was months of work put in, I don't want to mess it up.

I haven't spoken about my plans to anyone, nobody is trustworthy to the point where I could genuinely discuss what I'm doing.

After all, it's illegal.

The correct way, and the reason why I even chose this school, is to get recruited after attaining diploma's on interdimensional regulations, large range travel, interspecial diplomatic studies, moral coding, mechanical engineering, advanced weaponry handling, interplanetary navigation, ship construction, advanced physics and I can go on and on. I've been studying for all of this already over 20 years, and already have 14 of them under my belt, 5 of them I ended up with an A1 diploma.

After all of this you can get an internship there until you're finally able to board a ship and see all the different stars, planets, comets, species et cetera.

But all of that is complete bullshit. I already know how to handle the mechanical processes, so why would I ever care about what conduct I need to have? All I want is to simply explore all the things that are out there, and maybe become the supreme ruler of my own personal mini-planet.

I look at the screens the school has opened. 5 different textbooks about moral conducts show in my face, and I'm reminded of what a bunch of pussies they are.

Can't murder, can't agitate others, must always be civil towards the natives, only fight when absolutely forced to. The teacher preaches these at us as well, a living megaphone for the governmental propaganda fed to the masses. I spit in the faces of those fools. All they want to do is crush the dreams of people like me, who just want to have some fun in life, instead of having to read the protocol to see if the idea of having fun is even allowed.

Time flies by when you're barely aawake and blacking out every 15 minutes or so. Soon enough I could go home and do a final inspection on my ship. Energized, I walk back home eagerly, not bothering to talk to anyone before leaving the building. Last stretch.

I walked into the garage after greeting my parents, just so they wouldn't become suspicious of me. Once in there, I use the padlock which my parents don't know how to open, by bypassing it completely. Using a needle, I press the button inside the lock to force it to open.

Once inside, I admired the maginificence of my construction, feeling much less anxious than before. This will be my partner from now on.

My assistant robot greeted me.

"Welcome home, master."

"Everything looking alright?"

"No issues to be found once again, all parts fully functional and in good condition."

That is a good omen.

I spent the next few hours working on it, and picked up my gear from within the house, including my homemade X14A5-Magnum, a blend between the firing speed of the standardized IBCC handgun mixed with the power and killing potential of the .44 Remington Magnum. With the luck I have never being caught with this it almost feels like fate is guiding me.

I still need to wait until midnight. The patrol near the stratosphere is a lot more lax during the later hours. After dinner, I went to my room to get the last few things I wanted to bring. Antiques, antiques and more antiques, back from the ages where social dictatorships didn't rule yet, and when man was free to do as he pleased. I also couldn't bring myself to leave the photo album behind of my family, of all the times we spent together.

When I started planning all of this a few months ago, I was considering bringing them along, and tried to subtly hint at it. My parents shot it down and my little sister admonished me for even discussing the idea of breaking the rules. So what other options did I have? It will only be me, my robot and my ship from now on. It is a little lonely, especially since the AI isn't very advanced compared to newer models. Impulsively, I decided to finish up quickly and spend the last remaining hours with them, they looked a little surprised, asking me if I didn't have work to do. I lied to them that I had already finished it prior to class today. We spent some hours watching different movies on Cinearchive. It was genuinely pleasing seeing them enjoy those movies so much. In between we often discussed the scenes and the acting.

Once it was getting late, I decided to leave a final letter. I didn't tell many details, just that I was going after my dreams and that they wouldn't have to worry about me. Then finally, after I knew that they were all asleep, I went to the garrage one final time, brought out the vehicle, and prepared for launch.