by Wells, JB
15
A cold shudder suddenly ran through his body and he looked at Alfie sceptically.
“I’m joking. Well, I’m not. But don’t worry, I’m not going all Pied-Piper on you.”
“Good!” Kieran eyed Alfie suspiciously.
Their thick boots had steel armour covering the tops that made them clink as they walked. The whole uniform was heavy and it actually made Kieran feel as if he was trying to walk carrying twice his own weight. He looked at the thick padding that protected his shoulders, arms and chest. It matched the rest of his steel clad body; it was all a charcoal grey with a dusky blue.
They were led into a massive room that looked like every sports hall across the country. He studied the back of Alfie’s armour as he walked ahead; on his back plate was Alfie’s cadet number over the wings, and his name Best sat proudly above it.
“This is the training room. Some of you may get to spend more time here than others. If you have free time and the chairs, and staff, are available then you may come on-line to practice.”
The room was just another basic, empty room. All that was in there, other than the cadets, were little boxes all around the edge.
Ex walked over to one and stood beside it. “This is a training box, it does exactly what it say’s on the lid. Take up your position in front of the box, call to your Guider and they will initiate the scenario.” He moved in front of the box and placed his helmet back on. “Ready, Tate!”
Instantly the box sprung to life and a Biter jumped out. Its six robotic legs moved so fast and the noise it made was unlike anything Kieran had heard before. The biter spotted Ex and its dog-like mouth opened and let out a high pitched squeal. Ex was the only person in the room that had his helmet on; everyone else had to place their hands over their ears for protection. The biter darted towards him at great speed.
“Too long and the frequency will start to disrupt your shield,” Ex was shouting above the noise. He pointed at his armour and after a few seconds the brightness in the red uniform began to flicker. With precision and skill he pulled his handheld Antigen gun from his side holster. He took up his stance and shot until the Biter was destroyed. It fell lifeless to the ground and then burst into millions of pixels. Blue words appeared in the air above where the Biter had been shot down, 30 LP shone brightly then floated away like a thin line of smoke. “Okay, Tate.” The box switched off. “You can see why it is imperative that you keep your helmets on at all times, unless you are in a safe zone.” With his gun safely stowed back in his holster, Ex gathered the cadets around him. “All of you should have the basic knowledge by now; off you go to a box and see how far you get.”
Kieran, Owen, Dexter, Isabelle and a few others broke away from the group, heading towards a set of boxes to the side. There was a nervous anticipation between them.
“They’re really letting us lose with these weapons?” Dexter pulled his Antigen Rifle from over his shoulder.
“Yeah, I’m surprised they let you out of the zoo!” Isabelle laughed.
They all grabbed their weapons and looked them over. It seemed like a normal rifle. It was heavy and had two chambers, one for the Antigen vial and the other for the Recov. The end of the gun didn’t have a barrel like a real gun or one they had played with on the computer before. This one had four metal prongs that came out of the end, bent out into a diamond shape and then bent back towards each other.
“Weird looking.” Owen looked at the others then inspected the gun some more.
“So green is full, and red is empty?” Dexter asked.
“Do you ever read?” Isabelle tutted.
“I am not a book person, we have been through this before. The teachers at school know that now and you have known me longer.” Dexter had a charming yet cheeky smile right across his face.
“Yeah, green is full and red is empty. Yellow is running low and blue is the Recov shot.” Kieran looked at the trigger of the gun, and then on the side of the grip he found a switch. He flicked it over and the green light turned to blue. “And that’s how you change it.”
Every player in the room was facing their box; they were looking at their guns and inspecting the best way to use them.
“As you would get in any normal game, this is your practice round. Fire into the space behind your box and get used to the gun, how it handles and how it aims.”
Without warning one of the students fired their gun beyond the box. The electronic pulse formed and blasted with such force, the student was lifted up and thrown back across the room.
Kieran laughed and looked away, Dexter and the others all giggled while they watched poor Simon Doolie fly backwards and land unceremoniously on the floor. His face was frozen in shock as he stared up at the ceiling, his hands still firmly grasping the gun.
Ex didn’t budge, he rolled his eyes, “As I was about to say, you need to make sure you are grounded and lean into the gun. The force generated through the pulse is enough to send you flying, as Cadet Doolie has just found out.” Ex walked over to Simon, grasped him by his armour and lifted him back to his feet. “Helmets on or Dr Satchell will have a lot of patients to treat for head wounds later. Not to mention the Techs will go mad if you break your Avatars in the first five minutes.”
Kieran took the heavy helmet and placed it on the top of his head. It was a snug fit and he had to push it hard to get it right down. As it met the neck line of the armour it clicked and the whole suit vibrated.
“If your suit doesn’t vibrate then your helmet is not on correctly. There are many different creatures created by Adam, some are as small as ants and they will find a way in through your armour to infect you. Okay, call your Guider and begin when necessary.”
“Good luck,” Alfie waved from the other side of Owen.
“Yeah, you too.” Kieran nodded.
“Right guys, the one with the least points has to do the laundry run tomorrow!” Dexter was very competitive.
“You’re on!” Isabelle growled.
“I’m in!” Owen said crouching down.
“Bring it on!” Kieran snorted, he bent one leg and leant into it, his other leg was straight so he could lean against the force. “Chloe?” Kieran called quietly.
“How can I assist 191?”
“Can you start the scenario please?”
Kieran’s visor suddenly sprung to life. In the top right hand corner appeared Chloe, in the centre was a horizontal line that showed distance and on the left a list of information came up.
“Initiating training scenario.” Chloe went quiet and Kieran looked up and watched her. She was busy moving her hands around her pod, when she finished she looked at Kieran. “Just a heads up, I appear here when you need to see me or I need to see you. The bars tell you distance to enemies, incoming danger or the crosshairs will appear and track them on your visor. On the left, well you only ever need to see that when you need to look at a map or anything important. Secret information cannot be communicated via the comms.”
“Right…”
“Don’t worry a few training sessions and you’ll be used to it.”
“Okay.” Kieran’s response was sceptical.
“Scenario ready in 3…2…1…”
Chloe’s voice and video link disappeared, the box in front of him lit up. Kieran glanced around him and saw everybody’s box was alight.
Making sure his gun was back on electro pulse, he took his aim and waited for something to jump out. In one go, every box opened and out jumped a biter. Lights erupted throughout the room firing in all manner of directions as the cadets practiced using their guns. Some students were being thrown as they were not leaning into the pulse, some pulses were shooting off to the ceiling and flying round and round as others couldn’t control it.
Kieran’s visor was having a party of its own; the cross hairs flashed and tracked the Biter. Another set would appear every time someone else’s biter was near to him. He took a few seconds allowing his eyes to adjust to the symbols that danced in fron
t of his eyes. Kieran took aim and pressed the trigger, the gun shook as the little metal prongs started to generate the pulse, they were glowing brightly and the pulse leapt out. His feet slid backwards on the floor and he pushed himself further against it. It was hard to control the aim but with a few minutes practice he had it and he shot the biter. It took a few shots but eventually the biter fell to the ground and disappeared leaving behind the 30 LP sign. The lid of the box closed and began to glow again. Kieran took the quick opportunity and saw that his friends had taken out their Biters too. A small creature appeared suddenly from Kieran’s box and it flew around. Kieran wasn’t prepared for something so small, or fast. In fact Kieran wasn’t prepared at all. The little mosquito zipped around and dive bombed towards him. Kieran dropped to the floor to get out of the way, as the bug flew past he jumped up and aimed poorly at it. The little mosquito stopped in the air and headed back towards Kieran.
“What is this?” He hit the deck again. “Chloe, what is this?”
Chloe appeared in the corner of his visor, “This is a Snozbot. Its pincer type nose is strong enough to break your armour, so you’d better get rid of it quick.” Chloe’s face disappeared but Kieran could see her slightly giggle before she cut off.
“Any ideas guys?” Kieran asked crawling backwards.
He jumped as he backed into both Isabelle and Dexter. The rest of the classroom was still alight with electro pulses. Some students were running across the room, hopelessly trying to outrun their Biter and some were swatting their arms rapidly as they tried to climb walls.
“Incoming!” Owen yelled and he jumped in front his friends.
A flock of Snozbots flew close to the group as they huddled back to back, each shooting randomly with no hope of hitting their tiny target.
“I hope you are all using your brains, think what you would do if you were gaming at home guys!” Ex was calmly pacing the room, watching over his students. Some jumped through the air in front of him, Ex just stepped over the distraught students that were lying on the cold hard floor.
“What would we do?” Isabelle called out between defence shots.
“We’d ask you Kiwi!” Dexter screamed in a high pitch, girl-like fashion.
Kieran snorted and shook his head, “Well I’d ask Curly.” He lifted his gun and swung the barrel of it at a Snozbot that was too close for comfort. The elephant nosed mosquito dodged him and flew away. “That’s it, Chloe?”
“Yes 191?”
“How do you defeat a Snozbot?”
“Well…” Chloe was toying with him, taking her time to put him out of his misery.
Kieran was swatting and shooting at the little enemies that were dangerously close to them all.
“A high pitch frequency will take them out, switch your gun over to take a Recov vial. When the chamber is empty it makes a high pitch frequency, enough to take out a few of them.”
“Right…” Kieran lifted his gun again to check where the button was. “Why are they called Snozbots?”
Chloe laughed very loudly, her image in the corner of his visor was jolting as she laughed. “You’ll find out.”
“We have more coming in…Izzy watch out!” Owen shouted and jumped in front of Isabelle to shield her.
Isabelle was stunned, usually in clan games he would be the one cowering in the corner and she would go to his aid. But at that moment, Owen was lying over Isabelle, half of Dexter and some of Kieran. The two Snozbots were inches from him when they made an almighty sneeze sound, a ton of thick and sticky yellow goo flew out of their elephant like nose and landed all over Owen.
“Gross!” He shouted and jumped up trying to shift the luminous goo from his uniform.
Kieran clicked over the switch on his gun and pressed the trigger. Chloe was right, of course. A really high Pitch sound came from the gun and all the Snozbots in the room dropped to the floor, their tiny wings twitched and sparks flew out of their crumpled shells. Most of the students stayed still and watched as 5LP appeared above every broken Snozbot. The blue numbers fluttered away and everyone looked around stunned. Some students were still trying to outrun a Biter or two.
“Well cadets, I have to say a big congratulations to Cadet 191!” Ex walked over and patted him on the shoulder. “Out of 45 cadets, only one of you had the brains to contact their Guider and seek advice.”
Some of the students gave Kieran thumbs up, a “Well done” or a clap. Others, one group in particular, removed their helmets and gave a snide glare with some devious looking whispering.
“Yet on the other hand, one student in particular has found why they are called Snozbots.” Ex grabbed Owen’s chest plate and pulled him into the middle of the room. “Luckily this was a practice, otherwise cadet Berry here would have lost all his armour. The Snozbot goo is like acid; it eats away at the armour and leaves you exposed. As you should have all learnt by now, each Avatar is designed to fit you. It takes weeks to code and connect them to each cadet. If your Avatar is taken out, you are out of the game, and you then become useless in the battle. Not only that, it would take half a second for you to become infected. So on top of repairing your Avatar, you then become another name on the list of ‘Taken’.”
Owen had released himself from Ex’s grasp and made his way to the back of the room. He was behind Kieran trying to pull the yellow Snozbot snot from himself.
“If you should get snotted on, you either need a medic to heal you or you need to find a ReGen ball. Tate, can you generate a ReGen?”
“Confirmed Sir.” The Guider replied for all to hear.
In front of Ex a bright white cylinder appeared and gently floated on the spot, next to it appeared a red flame.
“This is a ReGen bar. It regenerates your health and shield, touch it grab it or run through it and it’ll work. In the safe zones there are ReGen points, stand on them and instantly you’ll be healed.”
Kieran was watching Ex, but he was being distracted by Owen who was still trying to fling the goo from his body. Every time he flapped his hands the goo sprayed onto Kieran and some others.
“Cadet Berry, would you please stop playing with the goo and come here.” Ex had removed his helmet, there was a stifled smile trying to break free.
Owen shuffled with embarrassment through the group and stood next to Ex.
“Touch the ReGen bar.”
Owen raised his hand and swatted the bar, instantly the goo had gone and Owen’s armour was shining brightly. He spun on his heel with his head hung low and shuffled back to where he had been hiding.
“Okay, cadets time to head to the nearest portal and download back to the Institute. The portal is in the transition room and there is always one there, but when you are out of the transition room you will need guidance from your Guider to find a portal.” Ex placed his helmet under his arm and ran his hand across his face, like he hadn’t slept in ages. “That was a good training session, well done all of you. If you check your forearm it will tell you your score. Now follow me.”
The cadets lifted off their helmets and shuffled behind Ex, noisily clanking and clanging in their heavy armour.
“Ex looks tired,” Kieran whispered to Dexter.
Owen and Isabelle were in front checking their scores. Isabelle turned around, “It’s because they’re always on-line at night. They go in to help with the war.”
Kieran raised his eyebrows in shock, “Guess we’d better learn and get in there for real.”
“Thirty Five points, losers!” Dexter laughed.
“Forty!” Owen bumped into Dexter.
“Thirty-Five,” Isabelle smiled. “Kiwi?”
Kieran lifted his left arm and checked the little dial, “Wow, ninety-five LP.”
“Oh man,” Dexter moaned.
“Oh yes, you can take my washing for me,” Owen laughed.
“Looks like I’m doing the girls washing.” Isabelle shrugged and rolled her eyes. “You do know that I let you all win.”
“Yeah, yeah!” Kieran joked.
<
br /> “Typical freak,” Richard hissed as he barged through them all. “Should’ve known the weird kid would be shown special treatment. Bet they gave him extra points for being a weirdo!”
“Oh grow up.” Isabelle glared at him and hooked arms with Kieran. “At least you didn’t cry today Rich, well done.”
Richard snarled at her and stormed off ahead.
“Loser,” Alfie snorted.
“Hmmm, I wonder what time it is, I’m hungry.” Dexter moaned.
“Trust you to think about food.” Isabelle jokingly hit Dexter’s stomach but it was fully covered in armour. The noise of the metal made everyone turn and look.”
“Come on now, into the room and then off to your next lesson.”
The students filled the room in groups of eight, Kieran watched from the doorway as the first set was sent back. The cadets stood on black squares on the floor; they backed against the wall and slowly disappeared from head to toe. Their Avatar disintegrated into millions of pixels, like before, and they disappeared. Kieran and his friends were next.
“Step on the mat, back to the wall and confirm to your Guider when you are ready.” Ex called as he lazily leant against the wall.
Kieran stepped on the mat and backed against the wall. Taking a deep breath he called, “I’m ready to go, Chloe.”
“Okay Kieran, confirm ready for download?”
“Confirmed ready for download.” Kieran repeated.
“Download in 3…2…”
Chloe’s voice tailed off and Kieran was alone again, only his heavy breathing could be heard in his ears.
“Welcome back Kieran, how did you find it?”
Kieran blinked, the bright white walls of the Invirtuwear chair were too bright. He glanced up at Gracie who was smiling back at him.
“Wow, that was…strange,” he smiled. “It didn’t tingle when I came out?”
“No, the download is always quicker than the upload.” Gracie smiled and the chair started to move to an upright position. “Out you come lad, here’s a glass of water that you need to drink and then you can go.”