by S. J Woods
Although it was still early, and he could see that day was still breaking through the floor-to-ceiling glass walls of the building, there were already plenty of personnel milling around the foyer, on their way to eat or to train. The queue for the transport capsules was relatively short, and he recognised some of the dozen or so men and women from the meeting with the General yesterday. He took his place in the queue, noticing that there was no chatter from his colleagues. Just a line of young people, with regulation duffel bags slung over their shoulders, staring straight ahead as they moved slowly to the front of the queue.
“Hey.” A quiet voice came from behind Dane and he turned to see Joaquin’s friend, Teonie, join the queue behind him.
She was dressed in the black, form-hugging shirt and pants uniform of the AMS, with the button-down jacket slung over her arm. Her dark hair tied back in a ponytail and an identical kit bag to Dane across her shoulder.
“Hi.” He replied, remembering how embarrassed he had felt at his mistake the previous evening.
“This is exciting, isn’t it?” She smiled. “I think we must be the youngest here.”
Dane looked around him at her words, and realised she was right. He recognised a few people, but they were all part of the graduating military classes at least a year or two ahead of him. He noticed a young woman at the front of the queue, stepping into a capsule, who had been in his year. He couldn’t recall her name but knew that she was part of an Engineering Squad, not a Ground Force like his team had been. Teonie was the only fresh recruit in the line.
“Are you the only person from your current squad?” Dane asked, interested in how this attractive young woman had been summoned to join an elite force in her first year of the AMS.
She nodded. “It really is an honour.”
“You must be good.” He said just for something to say. For some reason, he felt a little tongue-tied and self-conscious around her.
She shrugged modestly. “I’m a massive geek. Same to you, though. You’re from a ground squad, right? You must be pretty athletic to be in on this.”
Dane couldn’t think of anything to respond so he just smiled politely. He knew that he had done well in training, graduating at the top of his class. He enjoyed pushing his body to the physical limits and Weaponry had come naturally to him. He couldn’t understand how some of his classmates had struggled with the handheld devices that could emit crippling blows from a hundred yards away; it was just aiming. The only area of training that he struggled with was, embarrassingly enough, the tech side. He found it difficult to disarm any technology manually, always forgetting override passwords and the difference between the various software, although his Commander had told him that this didn’t matter.
“Our AI is the best in the world, as are our tech teams,” He’d confided on seeing Dane’s frustrations with himself. “You’ll never need to do this in real life. It’s a ‘just-in-case’.”
An Attendant brushed past them, threading her way through the queue to reach a post at the capsules. Her shiny-blue eyes met Dane’s and he looked away uncomfortably.
“Do they bother you?” Teonie followed his gaze.
“What? No!” He answered a little too quickly. “I think it’s great, the value they add to society.”
“But…?” She tilted her head to the side, a teasing smile playing on her lips.
He shook his head, embarrassed. He could hardly say what he actually felt: that they added too much value to the point where humans had no purpose.
She seemed to sense his discomfort and instead of pressing him, she dropped her bag between her feet and pulled her jacket on instead, painstakingly fastening it and smoothing the pockets down. Dane turned away, hiding the tell-tale flush of awkwardness in the colour of his cheeks. By the time she had dressed herself correctly and re-strapped her boots, it was Dane’s turn at the transportation capsule and it was forgotten; their nerves elsewhere. He entered the pod, planting his feet firmly for balance and threading his fingers through the handles. Teonie looked on at him from behind the Attendant’s shoulder.
“Will you wait for me?” She asked eagerly. “We’re all at the main hall.”
Dane didn’t feel he had a choice and he nodded that he would. He felt the familiar weightlessness as the lights dimmed and the pod took off at high-speed, chasing through an intricate network of hidden passages until he arrived at the Command Centre. He adjusted the bag on his shoulder and stepped out into the impressive building. He was scanned, by the metal archways, and he moved into the foyer, waiting for Teonie to appear a minute or two later.
She came bouncing towards him, clearing the additional security checks quickly, and beamed when she saw he was waiting for her.
“I didn’t think you’d wait for me!” She said as she reached him and they both started to walk briskly in the direction of the main hall. “It’s scary not knowing anyone and being the youngest.”
She kept up a stream of chatter as they made their way deep inside the building to where the briefing would take place. Dane found himself growing irritated by her constant talking, but as they moved into a formal room, laid out with benches facing a stage, he was stunned by the silence and the almost-tangible tension in the room.
There were about sixty personnel already sat in neat lines, all quiet and staring straight ahead. The seriousness of their faces made Dane feel nervous at the assignment ahead of them, and he slipped into a half-full row, slid his bag to his feet and felt almost grateful for Teonie’s familiar presence next to him. The room remained quiet, but Dane could hear it filling up from behind, although he didn’t dare turn his head to see how many more service men and women joined the group. He heard the doors slide shut with a gentle whir and a clang, and the surrounding personnel all hurriedly got to their feet.
The General’s deputy was the first to the stage, accompanied by two Commanders, one Dane recognised as Wilkins and an unknown, red-haired woman who looked to be in her late-thirties. The General was the last to the stage and took to the podium addressing the crowd.
“Congratulations to you all in the room.” The General started. “As you all know from yesterday’s briefings, you have all been handpicked as the finest talent from all branches of the Apatia Military to be a part of this operation.
As you know, it is no secret, that there are tensions overseas. The threat to Apatia is at critical level, and we have intelligence that suggests that the enemy will bring the fight to our land, after failing to infiltrate our Cyber networks for so long. As you were told yesterday, you will form an elite Operation. The planning that has gone into creating and recruiting for this team has been immense. Commander Wilkins will lead the Terrestrial teams and Commander Nichols will lead our Intelligence teams. They will report directly to myself, due to the high-level security surrounding this Operation.
There are one hundred and eleven of the finest Service people in the audience of this room, selected for their unique skills, knowledge and attributes, however, as we are entering into new territories in the way this force will operate, we will be conducting observations over the next ten days to ensure that our troops are suited to the unique circumstances in which they will be training, living and, ultimately, in combat.”
A collective murmur shot up around the room. The sound of a hundred or so unconscious intakes of breath coupled with the swish of half those heads turning to look in disbelief at their neighbours. Dane, himself, couldn’t help but turn towards Teonie and she had the same bewildered look on her face, silently answering Dane’s unspoken question. She was also oblivious to any ten-day assessment. She too had been promised that she would be going home for a few days before starting her training.
A small smile played at the corner of the General’s mouth at the reaction, as the room fell silent again and the heads faced forward. They were highly-trained individuals, who followed orders. It was not the time or the place to question any changes to what they had been told.
“Due to the unique
training needs of the team, successful troops will not be at the existing buildings in North, East, South or West Apatia. The imminent assessments will determine the team that each Service person will be a part of, and this in turn, will determine your location. The whereabouts of your locations are highly-classified and will not be disclosed.”
The General paused for a moment, resting his hands on the wooden stand in front of him. He was an imposing figure, not quite six-foot, but naturally stocky. His dark eyes swept the crowd, his head barely moving as he seemed to take a moment to look at every man and woman sat in front of him, hanging on to his every word.
Dane felt the gaze fall on him and he stared ahead, his face neutral. It was only for a split-second, but Dane felt relief as his eyes travelled on to the next person. He felt Teonie shift a little on the bench next to him and her right leg nudged his, but it was such a slight movement that Dane couldn’t be sure if he’d imagined it. He kept his head firmly facing forward. If she wanted to say something, she could tell him later. He wasn’t risking getting caught out here of all places.
“The assessment will start immediately.” The General continued after a few moments of silence. “You will be making your way, as individuals or as groups, to your hometowns. It will be the journey to your homes that will be assessed. There will be no equipment permitted, with the exception of your wrist-devices which we will require you to wear in order to track your success. The satellite-navigation facility had been disabled, as have all non-military communication methods. The usual methods of capsule, ground or air transportation will not be available. In addition, the pay facility of your personal and military accounts will be turned off until you have returned to base in ten days’ time.”
There was another rustle as one-hundred-and-eleven people shifted in their rows at the announcement.
The General continued to speak for a few more minutes, but Dane was oblivious to his words. Becoming part of this elite force would be dependent on each individual’s ability to make it home, no matter the distance and the terrain, with no food, water or equipment, within ten days. Dane was already trying to work through the logistics of this in his mind.
For years, the citizens of Apatia had relied on technology to survive. Children were taught at home in school-networks about the time before Artificials, before every resident was connected to the Central Network, back when people did manual work and roamed freely, ignorant to the damage that chemicals in the ground and in wildlife would do to the body. The General’s command was to send these one-hundred-and-eleven, the supposed crème-de-la-crème of the Military, back to the dangerous world of primitive living, completely unarmed and unequipped.
Dane felt strangely excited about the task, and equally surprised that he wasn’t remotely scared. This was like his childhood dreams come true. As a child, he had been obsessed by the natural world, imagining what it would be like to live out in the real wilderness. They used to vacation at Wilderness camps, but despite the authenticity of it all, Dane had always known at the back of his mind that everything he saw, touched and heard during the trips were crafted by technology; the rocky terrain was manmade, the nature was AI, even the temperature was controlled by a bunch of keystrokes on a workstation somewhere. Dane craved knowledge and experience of real nature, but he had resigned himself to having to make do with the virtual worlds created for safety. The mountains and the lakes and the rivers and the forest, they were all strictly out-of-bounds.
Dane rose from the bench and followed the procession towards the exit. The room was buzzing with noise now that they had been dismissed, and Teonie clutched his arm, reminding Dane of her presence.
Dane waited for her to start up her chatter again, but she remained so quiet, her hand still on his arm, that he glanced back at her. He noticed, with a start, that her face was drained of any colour and she was chewing nervously on her lip, suddenly looking younger than her seventeen-years.
“Are you alright?” He asked her in a low voice, as they came out into the foyer and fell out of the single file they’d been walking in.
Teonie nodded unconvincingly.
“Worried about your journey?” Dane asked, feeling an unexpected pang of sympathy at her anxious expression.
“A little bit.”
“Where do you live?” Dane asked, automatically heading towards the queue for Commander Wilkins, who would answer any questions on the way out.
Teonie paused. She needed to head towards Commander Nichols’ post, but she seemed reluctant to leave Dane’s side.
“Glenrise,” She said quietly, and then nervously admitted. “I don’t even know what direction that’s in.”
Dane hid a smile, wondering how someone so clearly smart could be so ignorant about such a simple thing. “Well, we’re in the command centre so it’s south for a start. I’m about fifty miles west of you. I’m from Ridge Falls. If you don’t find anyone going your way, I can come a little of the way with you.”
It was an empty gesture. Dane was sure that she would be hooked up with a team by her Commander, but he felt glad he had made it when he saw the relief evident on her face. He gave a friendly wave goodbye to her and made his way towards his own new Commander.
“Any questions?” Commander Wilkins barked to Dane and the next group of people who arrived at her post.
There were some general questions that Dane found useful, like were they permitted to use out-of-bound civilian routes, such as mountains, rivers and woodland. Commander Wilkins confirmed that they could, and Dane stepped away with the crowd, now gathered outside on the terrace of the Command Centre.
People seemed to be taking charge and organising themselves into teams, calling out first larger areas: “North”, “South”, “East” and “West” in confident, authoritative voices. Dane stepped towards the group of Southerners and waited as this was further divided into smaller areas. He ended up in a group with nine other service people, all considerably older and more experienced than him. Dane recognised most of them from around base and wasn’t surprised to see a stocky, dark-haired Officer by the name of Hunter taking charge of the group. Dane watched passively as higher-ranking individuals started to establish themselves within the group; he could already see how the next however-long would play out with the Officers making all the decisions. Dane just hoped that they knew what they were doing. He estimated that it would take five-and-a-half days walking to make it back to Ridge Falls, and that was without any problems.
Dane stood still, looking around at the other Southern inhabitants that had formed their own groups, made up of those that lived east or west of this group. Hunter started to outline his plan in a hushed voice, as if this was some kind of competition, when Dane felt someone sidle up next to him for the second time that day.
“Hi.”
Teonie was accompanied by a handsome older guy, who introduced himself to the group as Riku. The pair were from the Intelligence team and were also heading back to the same region of South Apatia. Hunter and the rest of the group made their introductions, but Dane noticed Hunter’s mouth set into a tight line at their presence. Dane knew that he was thinking that they would slow the unit down. Hunter should have seen this coming, Dane thought to himself. The law of averages said that every team would end up with one or two Intelligence operatives, as it was clear from the two queues that there was a ratio of about two Intel for every ten or so ground force.
Hunter indicated that the team were to follow him and set off in the direction of the front gates of the Command Centre. Dane frowned at his decision. The Command Centre had a private entrance that was south-facing. Heading out of the front gates and looping around the huge estate would cost them at least an hour of their journey. Dane jogged forward and shared his view with Hunter.
Hunter barely glanced in Dane’s direction before dismissing his claim.
“You’re looking at it wrong,” Hunter gave Dane a pitying smile. “You’ll need to get used to thinking in square miles.”
Dane dropped back, feeling a little patronised. That didn’t even make sense. He definitely wasn’t wrong but didn’t want to start rocking the boat just minutes into the journey.
Teonie had heard the exchange and gave Dane a sympathetic smile, but he ignored her. This was going to be a long week.
THREE
Hunter wasn’t the only member of the group with strong opinions about their route, Dane soon learned after they’d been walking along the verge of the super highway for a couple of hours. Traffic zoomed past them and civilian aircraft whizzed above their heads. The roads rolled on for miles, moving at automated high speeds, making their pace feel painfully slow.
Seraphine, who was the only other person in the group who ranked as highly as Hunter, was adamant that they should move away from the road towards the National Park. Dane agreed with her, but the majority were in favour of Hunter’s decision. They would be passing through the nearest city in a few miles, which meant they could fuel up on food and water from civilians. Dane could picture their geographical location in his head and knew that by keeping to highways they would add another day of travelling to their journey. Even if they cut back to the National Park after the next city, they’d have missed the shorter route and be detouring at least a few hours. Out in the open, they were exposed to the growing temperature. By noon, it would be in excess of eighty degrees Fahrenheit. As the day went on, their bodies, unused to the harsh elements, would be dehydrated and burnt. The National Park would offer shade and shelter.
Dane drew level with Seraphine, as she walked on in stormy silence after her suggestions had been shot down.
“We’re going to have to increase our pace if we want to reach town before the heat starts impacting everyone.” Dane said to her.
Seraphine nodded. She was disheartened that the group had followed Hunter’s lead, even though she suspected that he didn’t have the faintest idea to where they were going, hence he was following the only route he knew. In her head, she had worked out that they would need to be on top form to make it back to their region within six days. Any injuries or illnesses would slow them down to an indeterminate level and, while the ground forces were in peak physical condition, she wasn’t sure how the two Intelligence operatives would fare.