John jumped to his feet and saluted the sergeant just in the nick of time.
“At ease soldier. Time to begin the selection process.”
“Selection process for what, sir?” John asked.
“Information will be given on a need to know basis. Right now all you need to know is you better get your ass to the simulator room in less than an hour,” he said, leaving almost as quickly as he came.
Selection process? He continued to ponder what the sergeant said as he left his small room, practically bumping into Jay Harris, a meat-headed recruit that seemed to delight in making John’s life a living hell.
“Watch where you’re going, Nerdy Norman,” he said, shoving John so hard, he fell backwards. John managed to gain his footing just in time. Several other recruits were beginning to gather around hoping to catch a fight.
“What’s the matter, Norman, gonna cry about it?” Jay said as he puffed out his chest like a peacock.
“I guess when you don’t have much upstairs, you overcompensate by pushing people around,” John said as some of the others began to laugh. Jay took a minute to process what John was saying, not having that spectacular of a vocabulary.
“Why you….”
“Alright girls, break it up. Get your butts to the simulator room ASAP!” the sergeant called out.
“We’ll settle this later, Norman!” Jay said under his breath.
The group of recruits made their way to the simulator room. John walked in the back of the group. His thoughts returned to Hanna, and the gravity of his lost relationship began to settle on him. Phil Deadrick, a recruit that started the same day as John, came running up behind him. Phil was probably the only recruit that was skinnier than John. He was also even more tall and lanky and wore thick glasses. The two of them bonded early on over their intense desire to be anywhere else but the barracks.
“Wait up, John,” Phil yelled. He ran up beside John and could immediately see that something was bothering him.
“What’s the matter, Harris mess with you again?”
“No, I’m used to that by now. It’s Hanna. She dumped with me and hooked up with my best friend.”
“Damn that’s cold-blooded. Sorry dude. Don’t worry man. Once you get outta here, the chicks won’t be able to keep their hands off you. My old man says that women love a man in uniform,” Phil said. It wasn’t helping John to feel better.
“You must have really had it bad for her. Did you love her?” he asked.
John finally looked up. “Yeah, I guess so. Never again.”
“Never say never,” Phil said, patting him on the shoulder.
“So what do you suppose this selection process is about?” John asked, wanting to change the subject.
“No idea. We are reaching the end of basic training so maybe they want to select some people for the first exploration mission. Maybe we can get selected to go to Planet Vulmatron!” Phil mused.
“Yeah, that would be great. We can get incinerated by the fire beings that live on it’s hot surface.”
“I’m only joking dude. You can’t even land on the surface of that planet. It’s a gas giant.”
They were the last recruits to reach the simulator room that was located on the far south side of the training compound. The sergeant was already addressing the group.
“Nice of you ladies to join us!” He barked.
“Sorry sir,” Phil said.
“Alright ladies, here’s the deal. Each one of you will go on a simulated mission to the Planet Harignot. Your mission is to make it past each of the vicious Harignots, rescue the kidnapped Rugithians and return to the entrance in the shortest amount of time. The four recruits that can make it through the simulation without getting blasted by a laser cannon in the shortest amount of time will be selected.”
“Selected for what, sir?” Phil asked.
The sergeant went over to Phil and glared at him, his face was only an inch away from Phil’s.
“No questions, Deadrick!”
“Sir, yes sir!” Phil answered.
“Alright- Norman, you’re going first!” the sergeant said, immediately shifting his attention to John.
“Me?” John asked. He thought that he was only thinking the words, but he said them without meaning to. The others began to snicker.
“Yes, Norman. Are you hard of hearing?”
“Sir, no sir!”
“Good! Grab your laser cannon, soldier!”
John looked up at a rack of laser cannons that had been hung beside a door to the simulator room. He went up and grabbed the closest one. For a second, he stood there at the door. Although he knew he wasn’t in any real danger, he was hesitant.
“Well what are you waiting for? I’m sorry, Norman, but the invitations didn’t get printed in time for this trial. In you go!” the sergeant shouted as the others began to laugh.
John pushed the button on the side of the door and it slid open. He stepped inside the dark room and the door immediately closed right behind him. Taking a deep breath, John took a step into the darkness, letting the anger of his best friend and girlfriend’s betrayal fill him with determination.
Chapter 2
As soon as he took a step forward, a simulated laser shot went right over John’s head. He ducked and got behind a panel to his right. From behind the panel, he could clearly see a green Harignot with two heads and razor-sharped teeth snarling at him. Froth dripped from its awful mouth, and its heads made some gruesome noise, one to the other communicating in its undecipherable language. John got up and took a quick shot at the snarling alien, thinking of his target practice that he engaged in with his father back in Smithville. He hit the simulated alien dead between the eyes, and it vanished. A female voice congratulated him from the space above him. As soon as he heard the voice, he could feel the presence of something just behind him. John whirled around preparing to fire, but the creature behind him was a blue, amorphous Rugithian with its tentacles in the air in a gesture of surrender.
Just behind the Rugithian was another Harignot, this one was larger and nastier than the first. It took aim, but John anticipated this and dove right between its legs. Before the simulated creature realized what was happening, John shot it in the back.
“Congratulations! One Rugithian saved!” the female voice said, but there was no time to celebrate. Out of the dark corners of the room, a group of four Harignots came slithering like over-sized pythons towards John, shooting as they went. John dove behind a second control panel and began to pick off the creatures one by one, being careful not to hit the two captive Rugithians that were with them.
“Two more Rugithians saved. Only one more to go!” The voice encouraged.
John, however, was puzzled. There appeared to be no other simulated creatures in the room. He moved towards the door where he had seen the last four creatures emerge. As he went through the door, he saw a shimmering object sitting in what appeared to be a purple-colored field. The simulated sky was full of twinkling stars. As he got closer to the object, he could see large spires emerging from a sphere-like center and a door sliding open on its side. John hid behind the spires knowing that aliens would be coming out of the doorway at any moment. Sure enough, the Harignots came pouring out of the doorway. John was unsure of how many there were; if he had to guess he would say it was twenty-five or more. In the midst of the throng of slobbering Harignots was one petrified Rugithian.
How in the world am I going to get to that poor creature? John wondered.
He checked his laser cannon to see how much laser firepower was left. Much to his chagrin, the indicator on the weapon showed that he only had one shot left.
“What the?” John knew that this had to be part of the selection process. They had limited the amount of laser power on purpose.
Think, John, think. How will we use the one shot we have?
First, he considered blasting the creature that held the Rugithian captive, but he knew this would only incense the others and he would m
ore than likely be swarmed by simulated laser fire and lose the competition. It was in that moment that he remembered what his Uncle Charlie told him back in Smithville all of those years ago before he passed away. Uncle Charlie had been obsessed with the idea that the Earth would one day be invaded by hostile aliens, and would spend hours of time preparing for just such an invasion. John could hear his deep, coarse southern drawl in his head.
“Now Johnny boy, if you ever encounter a hostile alien ship, remember that a direct laser shot to the thruster can detonate the entire vessel…”
That’s it!
He waited until the creature guarding the Rugithian was a safe distance away from the ship. Then, he located the thruster, which was just to his immediate right. In one sudden movement, John ran out from his hiding place behind the spire and took aim at the thruster. The Harignots turned their attention to John and lifted up their weapons, but just as they took aim, the ship exploded into a million tiny pieces. John fell to the ground and covered his head. The creatures began to mill about in complete confusion, some of them began to retreat. In the confusion, John ran up to the Rugithian that had been left to his own devices amidst the chaos.
“Follow me!” he yelled. The creature seemed to understand and could move quite fast when it needed to. The angry Harignots turned their attention to John again, but now he and the Rugithian had reached the door of the room John had come from. The door slid open just as a hail of laser fire came in their direction. Just as the door closed behind him, the women’s voice began to speak again as the simulated Rugithian vanished into thin air.
“Congratulations. Simulated mission complete.”
John came back out into the daylight as the sergeant looked at the liquid crystal time-keeping device in his hand. There was a devilish grin on his face.
“Didn’t know you had it in you, Norman,” he said, giving John a huge pat on the back.
“Did I do well, sir?”
“Well? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a recruit complete this simulated mission in such record time. You been taking your vitamins or something,” he said.
John smiled at this. It was the first time since he first arrived that the sergeant seemed pleased with him. With all of the physical training the recruits had to endure, John was never first in the race or anywhere close to being as strong as some of the others. It was his superior shooting and reasoning that had paid off in this last mission. One by one the other recruits came out of the building, attempting to catch their breath. The sergeant looked at his time-keeping device, but appeared to be unimpressed with most of the times he recorded. John could tell this by the amount of head-shaking the sergeant displayed. Strapped to his wrist, the sergeant had a small screen he was using to watch each recruit. Phil emerged after a few minutes, panting for air.
“Not too bad, Deadrick,” the sergeant said. John high-fived Phil, who was doubled over with his hands on his knees, still panting.
“Did you hear that? Maybe we’ll both get selected for the mission,” John said excitedly.
Before Phil could answer, Jay appeared in the doorway with a gleeful smile on his face.
“How was that sarge? Best time yet, no doubt,” Jay said confidently, shaking the sweat from his crew cut.
“Sorry Harris, Norman beat you by twenty-one seconds.”
“What?” Jay said incredulously.
“You’re joking, right?”
“Joking SIR!” The sergeant barked.
“Sir, yes, sir,” Jay said.
“No I’m not, but don’t worry, Harris- you’re still going to make the cut, although you nearly blasted that last Rugithian that you were supposed to save.”
Jay glared at John, but John did his best not to gloat or even make eye contact with the muscle-bound man frowning down on him.
“Try not to get in my way on this mission, Nerdy Norman,” Jay said, giving John a firm shove on his left shoulder.
“Hit the shower, ladies. We’ll announce whose made the cut in a couple of hours,” he sergeant said, dismissively.
“Wow, man, can’t believe that you beat Jay’s time on that mission!” Phil said, excitedly.
“I can’t either. Honestly, I don’t know if I want to be selected. I mean, we don’t know where we’re going and what kind of danger we’ll be in,” John said. Phil was the only one he trusted with his true feelings. The others would have given him a hard time for expressing such a sentiment.
“Dude, I know you got into this outfit to raise money for school, but surely you didn’t think there wasn’t going to be any risk involved,” Phil responded.
“I considered it, but I guess the reality of the situation never really took hold until the sarge mentioned this mission,” he said.
“Hey man, if you handle yourself half as well as you did on the simulation you should be fine. You never know, we might be heading to Titan where the Golden Goddesses live.”
“That’s a myth. No one really knows if they really exist because there hasn’t been a crew sent there yet.”
“Maybe we’ll be the first,” Phil said, lifting his eyebrows suggestively. John reckoned that Phil was one of those guys that never had much experience with women judging from the amount of times he mentions getting laid or who he had the hots for. John once accidentally found a virtual porno mag when he was looking for something that had been dropped and rolled under Phil’s bed.
Just the mention of the fairer sex brought John’s mind back to Hanna again. For a moment, his mind drifted back to a happy moment they’d spent together back on the farm when the two of them were walking hand in hand next to the pond. Every detail was sketched out in his memory- her warm, hazel eyes, freckled nose that gave her a girl-like quality, her luscious lips and curly, red hair. The two lovers were so lost in each other’s eyes it Hanna failed to see that she was about to fall into the murky water. Once she fell in, John laughed and dove in after her. Eventually, both of them removed their clothes and wrapped their arms around one another.
“Dude, you alright?” Phil asked. John realized he was staring blankly off into space as he came back to reality.
“Yeah, man, just thinking of….”
“Don’t tell me- it’s Hanna again. Forget her, dude. Chicks love a man in uniform. You’ll have your pick when you get back in the game.”
Before John could respond, the sergeant’s voice came over the speaker in the corner of the room.
“The following recruits need to report to my office at zero one hundred hours: Franklin, Harris, Norman…”
“Congrats, dude. I guess I didn’t make it…” Phil said, putting his head down between his knees.
“And Deadrick…” The sergeant announced.
Phil jerked his head up as his eyes lit up.
“You made it, man!” John said, giving him a high-five.
“I can’t believe it!”
“I just wish it had been anyone but Jay going with us.”
“Don’t let that big lug bother you- we’ll run circles around him,” Phil said, giving John a light punch on his shoulder.
The four recruits stood on the far side of Sergeant Miller’s office. John kept his eyes forward, but he could tell from his peripheral vision that Jay was giving him the sidelong stink eye. Steve Franklin was a new recruit that was fairly silent. He was stockier then Phil and John and had bushy, curly hair and dark brown eyes. His demeanor was stolid and his posture was immaculate. John couldn’t help but think that he was too much of a stuffed shirt.
“Alright boys, it’s time to find out about the nature of the mission that you’ve been selected for,” The sergeant said as he pushed a red button on a small remote control in his hand. On the wall to his left, the image of a large weapon appeared- it looked to be part cannon, part laser gun.
“This my friends is the anti-matter cannon. A weapon that the Harignots are in possession of that could change the balance of power in the universe. I don’t have to tell you what the Harignots are like: they are warmong
ers that seek to control and take over our planet and everything we hold dear. If we can steal the secret plans for this weapon, we can tilt things back towards our favor before they have a chance to invade.”
“Where are the secret plans believed to be hidden?” John asked.
“I don’t remember saying that I was taking questions yet, Norman. You just hold your horses.”
“We will make an attempt to land on the uninhabited northern hemisphere of the planet. Then, we will make our way through an underground tunnel to the main military training compound in their capital city of Jarinignot.” The sergeant pushed a button on his remote and the image changed to a large, green gas giant of a planet. Noxious plumes of green gas curled up from the surface and evaporated.
John swallowed hard, thinking of the dangerous nature of the mission they were about to embark on.
Chapter 3
The next few weeks were grueling- the recruits would be awoken at five o’ clock, an hour earlier than their training schedule had been thus far. The physical trials were twice as difficult as the first few weeks had been. After a demanding exercise routine, hours of weapons training followed. As if that weren’t enough, there were the endless hours spent on the space flight simulator, which subjected the recruits to intense g-forces that they’d be subjected to during launch and re-entry. At the end of each day, Phil and John would return to the barracks feeling so exhausted, they barely spoke to each other before going right to sleep.
One morning, the sergeant’s voice came through the speaker sounding more chipper than usual.
“Rise and shine, recruits. Today, we leave for Harignot. Report to launch pad D- 128 at 0800 hours.”
John had heard lots of things about the planet Harignot they were traveling to, none of them pleasant. Not only did the planet have an inhospitable atmosphere with little or no oxygen, the sprawling gas giant had no surface to walk upon. Every settlement that the Harignots had built was set up on high platforms created from rare crystal from the ice moon, Tetulary. Most of what Earthlings knew of the Harignots came from the constant wave of stories about their cruelty, potent military, and enslavement of less powerful planets in the Keltnor galaxy. If the Harignots were anything like they had been described in the media, John felt that the mission was worthwhile if it made the Harignots any less dangerous.
A New Reason To Fight: An Intergalactic Romance Page 40