Chapter 13 - One small step

  “Fuck” was the only thing Lisa could think as she was almost frozen. The blue tinted water that suspended her felt like it was at maximum 2℃, as she took in deep breaths to calm her mind and regulate her body, the air she breathed slowly started to taste sweet. Before she could properly realise what was going on her eyes drew heavily until the world went dark.

  What woke her was her body being pulled out of the water and into the stale air. Lisa was hoisted from the tank by an overhead robotic arm which plopped her onto the ground beside the lowered lid of the container. Dripping with the slightly viscous water she was suspended in, she looked around to see an assistant android rolling towards her. The robot unclasped the mask and pulled it away from her face. The feeling of the tubes leaving a void in her body was already nauseating but as they finally were withdrawn they carried with them a coating of saliva and mucus. Coughing and spluttering, Lisa watched as the robot let the used mask dangle off to the side as it unplugged her from the remaining wires.

  “Elite Grim, Your two hour physical examination has concluded that you are fit to continue to planet X-01.” The robot blankly told her while continuing to work, “Once you have been fully disconnected from the status vat, please make your way to the two androids at the nearby door, they will guide you to one of the security rooms.” looking at the only door with androids that was at her right, she saw the two combat androids standing like statues. Both had hands and one had a finger outstretched with a white towel neatly folded over it.

  Once she felt the warm blood flow through her body and her muscles she stood up, trying not to slip on the water that soaked the smooth tile floor. As she reached the two towering giants, the outstretched finger moved towards her in offering. As soon as she took the towel the two androids moved into action, the one that was holding the towel pressed the cold steel hand at her back and pushed her along following the other android that had started to move through the door.

  Feeling less and less like a human and more of a mutant she was guided through a glass corridor passing a humongous room. Seeing the room swarming with people she quickly donned the towel as a dress. Engineers and scientists seemingly talked loudly as heavy duty cranes carried tens of the long dark matter labelled tubes, exactly like the one she saw yesterday. Being pushed around the corridor that followed the edge of the room getting an almost 360 degree view of the centerpiece that all the workers diligently worked on. She watched the cranes carrying the antimatter containers as they were all being maneuvered around a gigantic metal sphere. Walkways like rings of planets layered the sphere with only the central one having a path to a heavy blast door on the surface of it. The tens of dark matter rods were carefully guided into ports around the sphere with the ones already fitted making it look like how a virus looks under a microscope. Completely towering over the engineers and scientists combat androids continually marched around stopping people at random to scan their ID’s while some stood on the walkways as sentries.

  Lisa couldn't get more of a look as she was pushed through the corridor and entered a security room with one desk and bay behind it, the room was small enough for four people to fit comfortably. Once she was inside the androids that guided her there turned around and returned to move the next person. Still dazed from the whole experience she just about heard the clicking of fingers snapping her out of it.

  “Hurry up,” a bald woman snapped at her, pointing at an identification wire. The woman wore a uniform from the security division of The Falling Mountains. From how augmented the suit she wore, with metallic fibers and prosthetic eye; Lisa got the idea that she was a very high ranking even higher than her if the two branches of the company combined. Moving to the woman and plugging in the identification wire, a familiar jolt of energy hit her nerves as the woman nodded and the bay rocketed to life quickly displaying her armour folded up on a grey tray.

  “Elite Force Grim, we have marked one personal item as prohibited.” the muscular woman started staring at the screen in front of her. “Take the tray and go into the changing room to your right.” as she finished a light next to the door flashed green and the door to a cramped room opened up.

  “Wait please, it was the lighter right? I need that, please.” she almost begged, “my dad, please.”

  For the first time the security officer gazed up. Her brown eyes were piercing, her scrutiny palpable. Tears started to well in Lisa’s eyes; everything had been building up to a breaking point and was about to beg again before the woman looked back at the screen and typed again.

  “I have moved your lighter to weapons rather than personal classification and can be picked up once the weapons have been sent. Please take your suit and change.” The officer, contrary to her appearance, spoke quietly. The kindness of the officer almost set Lisa off but she held back the tears.

  “Thank you, Thank you, Thank you” she could blurt out with a shaking voice. She took her things from the bay and entered the changing room. With the door closing behind her she pushed her back against the wall and breathed.

  She recalled her day so far, which was a bad idea as tears started rolling down her cheeks.

  “First it was the sim,” she cradled her arm, “then Steve,” another tear rolled down her face, while she reached up to her shoulder with the arm she was cradling, “then the mask”. She spoke through her hand as she covered her mouth and nose, remembering the feeling of the tubes.

  She could feel her feelings build up, her throat tight and eyes red; but she grimaced and stamped down her emotions. “I cannot cry, not here. I am an Elite.” She tried to regulate her breathing, a few times her emotions flared up, mainly at remembering the words of Steve or the feeling of the mask. But she shut them out and breathed. It took a minute for her to wipe her face but she composed herself and suited up. Sliding the grey tray into a slot in the wall with her towel inside, as indicated on a picture above the slot, the light that was above the slot turned green from red and a door opposite the one she entered opened up, dragging it up into the ceiling.

  A room almost identical to the mess hall was revealed to her. As she stepped past the door it sealed behind her. The new room had a few differences from the mess hall like how it was significantly larger, missing any screens lining the walls and the kitchen on the far side. Giving a quick look around she eyed everyone in the room, she saw a few members of her platoon sitting around a few tables with their head in their hands or just laying their heads on the table. Eyeing up the frame of Steve who was also following everyone else with their face on the table. Lisa moved to a table far away from him with nobody on it. Using her helmet she sent Joe a message.

  “Hey Joe, I'm on one of the tables on the left once you get into the large hall.”

  With that the exhaustion of the day already pressing heavy on her mind Lisa decided to follow everyone else in the room and put her head on the table for a minute.

  Lisa’s eyes dragged open once she felt her shoulder shake. With his helmet off, Joe sat next to her, his eyes looked heavy and red but he smiled at her, wryly. Quickly checking the time to see “17:21:32.321”, she took her helmet off to greet Joe, showing her also heavy red eyes.

  “How long have you been there?” she yawned, placing her helmet on the table and rubbing her eyes. With her ears readjusting to the room she had to squint as her ears received a shit tone of noise all at once, looking around the room it was packed.

  “Five minutes after you sent that message but I also just needed a nap, I’ll be honest. I got up ten minutes ago, and I've been having a wonderful conversation with your friend.” he gestured to the other side of Lisa, letting out a small “huh” she looked to her side to see a familiar face.

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  “Hanna?”

  Next to Lisa, Hanna waved with her non-prosthetic hand. “Hey Lisa, it's good to see you again. I saw your two scores on the simulator leaderboard, well done getting top 10 in 1,025 active squads.”

  “Thanks, it wasn't hard.” Lisa said, puffing out her chest and sitting up straight.

  “Sure.” Joe rolled his eyes, causing Lisa to shoot him a glare. “To answer your question before Hanna, woodlands are difficult to navigate. All the trees are the same and there is greenery all around it's a nightmare.”

  “At least in urban areas, there is elevation that doesn't break under your own weight and street names to orient yourself.” Lisa chimed in.

  “It seems prettier at least.” Hanna said trying to fill dead time after the two didn't add anything for a minute.

  “Pretty?” Lisa asked confused, “maybe, sure but environments are just part of the mission. They are neither pretty or ugly, just another set of parameters for the job.”

  “Have you ever been outside of a The Falling Mountains controlled zone?” Hanna asked genuinely curious

  “No” Lisa responded as if it was obvious.

  “Hmm” Hanna hummed before changing the subject. “I’ve noticed that soldiers from IZ-291 are filtering through now, I wouldn't be surprised if we would start whatever method of getting to the planet once the last person gets in.”

  Joe nodded and shrugged, “Makes sense, that gives us what 20 minutes give or take, but I haven't been keeping track of how fast platoons get through the medical check and security.”

  Just by saying ‘medical’ made Lisa shudder. Deciding to take the conversation elsewhere Lisa asked what Hanna had been up to all day. Their conversation filled the time as more and more of the room filled with soldiers, the new arrivals trying to find an empty table to rest for a minute while the soldiers who had been there for a while were up and about talking and forming groups.

  One of the two large groups was headed by Steve, actively flaunting how strong IZ-213 is by maintaining their top 25 spot from the simulator while a lot of other high ranking squads had fallen significantly. The other large group was a set of three platoons headed by the group who was loudly talking about slaughter yesterday. Asking Hanna she identified the three squads

  “IZ-250, 209 and 287.” she muttered. “With a few from my platoon.”

  “Do you know any of them?” Joe asked, looking at the very large group. “I think I heard that 209 was in the bottom 10 squads not even a year ago but have climbed to 15th now.”

  “Yeah, 209 skyrocketed once Luke Strax became its leader, he followed after his brother, effectively working to death the weak while indoctrinating the strong to actively hate everyone as much as mutants or terrorists.” Hanna answered.

  “And who is his brother?” Lisa asked.

  “John Strax, platoon leader for 250”, Hanna squinted before pointing at three men, their helmets still on but sat on their own table laughing. Weirdly enough two of the three masked men had red markings on their shoulders, it was small - only two stripes most likely painted on with their fingers - but it was customisation. “There, the two with paint on their right shoulder are the brothers.”

  “I thought you would get in a shit load of trouble if you customised your armour.” Joe asked, eying up the three men.

  “Usually, but the third guy is the reason. That is Huan Liu.” Hanna said exasperated.

  “Liu, you are not saying that's the son of Hao Liu, the director of international business.” Lisa said with shock and a hint of disbelief.

  “The very same.” she said, slouching against the table. “They are childhood best friends so they are almost untouchable.”

  “How do you know all of this?” Joe asked, looking at Hanna deflated on the table.

  “You see that woman standing guard for the three of them?” Hanna sat back up, “She has been sucking off all three of them since 209’s drastic rise in the rankings. She is my platoon leader and is trying to get our squad higher up in the leaderboards.”

  “Is she actually doing favors like that?” Joe asked, a bit taken aback.

  “No not really, well at least from what I know. But it feels like it from how much she adores the three warmongers.” Hanna said, deflating again.

  As the three were about to gossip some more an android made its way from a set of doors on the far end of the room. It was the same model as the first android that met with them yesterday. The chatter only stopped once the android started to speak, its voice connected to hidden speakers in the room.

  “Form into your squadrons, order platoons numerically.” the robot commanded.

  Grunting and standing up hiding a stretch, Lisa and Joe said goodbye to Hanna and moved to their platoon. It took a couple of minutes for the squads to form but after a while the first squad stood ready in front of the robot with the other squads in order, snaking around the room between the tables.

  “IZ-201, follow me.” the android commanded again, without skipping a beat the group of twenty five marched through the doors that slid closed behind them. The hall became silent after that. Every couple of minutes a new platoon would be called upon and taken out of the room, and the other squads would move to take their place at the front of the line. It was not long since IZ-213 was the next one to be taken out of the room. Lisa tensed and untensed her hands and feet in anticipation, it felt like the wait from 212 and 213 was as long as the entire wait so far.

  Eventually though the robot entered the room and called on IZ-213 to follow it.

  Marching in time with her squad left the room and approached an awaiting elevator. The spacious elevator was large enough for the entire squad to stand at ease, but nobody did. Standing at attention the platoon waited for the elevator to start. The android guiding them approached the front of the lift before speaking again.

  “This elevator will take you to the runway leading into the Troy Loft bridge’s containment sphere. At the green painted line on the walkway, split into rows. The first row will move to the yellow painted line where you will split individually. The individual will walk to the red double line and stand between them. A light above the open door will turn green and an alarm will sound, then step through the doorway. Keep your eyes closed and lungs empty, otherwise risk of permanent damage to you will likely occur resulting in your death. Once the row ahead of you has had its last member pass through the doorway the next row will take its place.” The robot moved off the elevator and as the door closed it said its final words. “Good luck.”

  With the last words of the android, the doors of the elevator closed and it started to ascend. Once the lift passed the housing of the bottom floor and rose to the first floor, the glass walls of the elevator let the people inside see the room housing the Troy Loft sphere. As the floors kept climbing the hundreds of workers resembled ants as they ran around and worked at their stations. The many rings around the sphere was home to rows of computers where people furiously typed and large holograms of charts fluctuated rapidly. The elevator kept moving until it unceremoniously stopped after ten floors, where it opened up to a small enclosed catwalk. The group moved after a moment of hesitation, walking towards the yellow line twenty meters away. The goliath sphere dominated the room, demanding attention. Its many layered structure had rows of painted yellow hazard warnings or exposed sections that engineers actively recorded data on their tiny tablets. IZ-213 marched to the first painted line where the first row detached from the main group. Then the row stopped twenty meters away from them, and finally the first soldier took herself to the double red lines twenty meters from the lined up row. After a moment of waiting a ear piercing BRRMMMMM of an alarm filled the catwalk and a large red light above the door turned green. The woman waited for a second but eventually stepped forward. To Lisa, she had to squint to see the soldier but as she stepped forward her body seemed to stretch and warp into an infinitely long string that was sucked through the door.

  The next person moved up and the alarm sounded again, the soldier took a hesitant step forward and was spaghettified like the previous squad mate. Next was Cook who at the alarm confidently strode through. The row quickly finished and the next row moved forward, then the next. Lisa was in her usual spot in the squad, bottom right; following the order of the rest of the platoon she would be last to pass through. As the fourth row started to move Lisa heard Joe’s voice, breaking the silence of the last couple of minutes.

  “Good luck Lisa, see you on the other side.” His tone indicated he was nervously smiling which Lisa copied.

  “Good luck Joe.”

  The fourth row took turns passing through the gateway, waiting her turn Lisa looked up to see three figures standing on a higher ring of the sphere. Looking down she recognised two of the three individuals, entirely due to the clothes, it was Mrs. Holland and Colonel Muller, but the third she had never seen before. With a white suit and hit of gold around his face, Lisa wracked her brain for someone who fit that description but couldn't. As she looked up, she had a feeling the white suited man was looking at her too but quickly dismissed that and returned her focus to the sphere. She watched as Joe confidently walked through the portal meaning her row started to move towards the next painted line. As her group approached the next line she got a better look of the open doorway. Apart from both seeming like a physical bubble and nothingness, the intangible orb had the halo of colours, countless shades of pinks and purples with the occasional blue and orange flickered around the void, curving and warping in mind-warping ways. As she waited the first person in her row moved forward and the red lines. Each person had their turn until Thorn stepped through making her the last on the catwalk. The last twenty meters to the red paint had time to move to a crawl, taking a final look around as she looked at the white suited man. The two others looked at tablets or talking to subordinates, but the man had both eyes on her. Trying to push it to the back of her mind she approached the red lines and stared into oblivion. With her heart racing the dreaded sound blared for the twenty fifth time and the light above the door flashed green. Remembering the androids words she emptied her lungs and closed her eyes, the words of Joe flashed across her mind as she took one small step.