Project Destiny

by Justin Sloan

  Better than he could ever remember feeling.

  He turned his head, cracking his neck, and shifted back and forth on his feet, feeling the muscles as if he was keenly aware of every one of them, as if they were at his full command. With a curious glance up, he squatted and then jumped, easily touching the ceiling. That had to have been at least ten feet up, he thought with awe. Whatever they had done to him, it had worked.

  Someone cleared their throat, and Stealth spun to see Tropical at the doorway. He nodded with an amused expression, then cleared his throat again.

  “Huh?” Apparently, Stealth realized, his mind was taking longer to wake up than the rest of him.

  “Clothes,” Tropical said, gesturing. “Maybe put something on before jumping around like that next time?”

  “Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in.”

  Shouts of excitement echoed, two soldiers challenging each other to “Get some,” and then more shouts sounded.

  “What’s happening?” Stealth asked, turning for his clothes.

  “The team’s heading out. An alarm went off. Trish had to respond, so told me to check on you, that you should be coming out of there at any minute. Well, here you are.”

  “Ready for action.”

  “Are you?” Tropical shook his head. “Most of us take a day off, and you just came out….”

  “Trop, I’m good. Did you see how I touched the ceiling?”

  “Unfortunately, yes, I was watching. That image might be permanently scarred into my brain.”

  Stealth laughed, then had the horrible thought of making a joke about erasing the image with the help of the machine. He decided against saying it out loud.

  “Trust me, I’m ready,” he stated.

  “Right, you say. So let’s get your feet wet. Suit up.”

  “The mission?”

  “A group of hackers made a move on the dome itself. You believe that?” Tropical ran a hand through his hair, then sucked in. “Might even be that same woman. The target you all failed so miserably to bring in.”

  “We did our best,” Stealth lied.

  “Yeah, well, now you’ve been upgraded. Now you can do better.”

  The man left and Stealth followed him out, breaking off to the left to find his room and get suited up.

  “Yo, newb had his cherry popped?” Pete asked, seeing him as he passed by the open door. “No way, you’re coming with?”

  “You think I’d trust you all to get the job done?” Stealth laughed, slipping into the armor and feeling its embrace against his skin, moving with him to get the perfect fit.

  Pete let out a fake laugh, then lowered his voice. “Hey, Bloodhound’s a bit sensitive about getting our butts kicked out there before. Don’t go, you know, rubbing piss in the wound.”

  “Rubbing piss in the wound? Don’t you mean salt?”

  “Would you rather not have someone rub piss on you, or salt?”

  “Piss,” Stealth admitted with a laugh. “But I think you’re missing the point.”

  “Point is, you understand?”

  Stealth nodded, now stepping into the exoskeleton. “I feel like a million bucks, man. Nothing’s going to drag me down right now.”

  “Moving out!” a voice called, followed by an echo of men and women shouting “Oorah,” as if they were Marines. He guessed enough of them had to have been, and once a Marine, always a Marine. Still, it felt wrong here.

  Regardless, he found his rifle and strapped it on to the back of his suit, then ran out to join the rest of the team. They were already clearing out of the hall and into the passageways beyond. One of the Marines at the front was shouting about how to ride the hoverbikes, for newbs like Stealth.

  “What’s that about?” Stealth asked Bloodhound when he found him among the others.

  “Taipan Chamber moves, didn’t you get the briefing yet?” Bloodhound responded. When Stealth shook his head, the man added, “Comes out in different locations, too, so that none of those rebel slimes can make a move on us even if they tried. We’re deadly as hell, but blow us up or find a way to cast us out into space, we die like all the rest of ‘em.”

  “Damn, smart.” He glanced about. “And… finding my way back?”

  Bloodhound grinned, then pulled up Stealth’s wrist and hit one of the buttons on the armor. A holographic map illuminated, and he pushed it toward Stealth’s eye. After a scan, the map showed a red blip.

  “There you go,” Bloodhound said. “Retina scanner, gets you back by letting you know where the location is. Changes every hour or so, give or take, so better to check when you’re actually ready to come back.”

  “Glad I asked.”

  “I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t,” Bloodhound admitted as they exited into a main hall, shoving miners aside to clear a path. “How funny would that have been.”

  “Plenty for you, none for me.”

  “The best kind,” Bloodhound said, then elbowed him. “Only playing with you, Fish. Having some fun.”

  Stealth wasn’t sure he believed that the guy wouldn’t have been rolling at the thought of him lost out there, but he shrugged it off and continued, eager to get into the action. Even more eager to see if that woman was there again.

  If not, his mind was already running with ways to find answers. Veles, for one, might be able to help, if Stealth could figure out where he was imprisoned. He might have to find those two Marines who said they knew him, the couple, if that’s what they were. He didn’t want to think about where that would take him, so hoped the woman would be here, at the battle, and he would get a chance to speak with her.

  A realization hit him and he wanted to punch the air with joy. He hadn’t forgotten! Sure, he might have forgotten about other stuff, but this woman, the images he saw, all of that was still fresh in his mind. When they entered the room with the bikes, he grinned. This was going to be fun.

  18

  Alice: Titanian Hideout

  Guards were shouting in the distance by the time Alice made it out of the elevator shaft, but were now inaudible from the back room she had managed to enter via a scanner she had set up just for this purpose. When slid across an access panel, it acted as a jammer able to bypass any door with the same systems she had helped develop.

  This door led her into the room adjacent to the server room, so she quickly found the section of wall where the seam in the middle could be moved. She kicked in the corner of it and worked her way in to place the eye behind an inner support beam, then switched it on before working to get the metal back in place. She then crawled up to where she was able to move onto the scaffolding above the layer of ceiling.

  There she froze, eyes darting across the edge of what she could see of the server room. As well as she knew the security equipment here, and that would help her get past it, she also knew that she had to avoid setting off more alarms. If that happened, they’d be in here in a matter of seconds, and she’d be toast.

  At least the eye was in place, so her team could start working whatever magic they could. But one thing was clear—they needed someone on the inside. How the hell they were going to accomplish that, she wasn’t sure yet.

  What she was sure of was that Swinger was right. She needed to get out of there. The metal creaked as she worked her way away from the server room, very aware of the blasts of cold air rising up from that area. Two rooms over, another blast of cold air hit her, and she paused.

  For the server room it made sense, but what was this? Some random room where the soldiers could chill off? She doubted it. Moving closer, she saw more security measures in place, including a heat sensor and something beeping she hadn’t had anything to do with.

  This wasn’t on the maps, which meant she needed to get in there. She needed to find out what secrets they were keeping, but dammit, it wasn’t going to be today.

  Instead she moved to the far side, away from the elevators, and pulled up her map. Her target was seven floors down, but she figured she didn’t have time to work her way alo
ng the girders and in between floors as originally planned.

  An armory was nearby, according to her map. Just one floor below.

  Making that her target, she worked her way across a beam, and then made her way between the floor and the next floor down, moving across a ceiling tile and then dropping again.

  According to her map, this was it—the armory. If she could find a helmet and other PD gear, she could blend right in.

  Only, none of that seemed to be here. Curious, she ran to the back wall, the top half of which was windows. Not windows to outside, though, she saw. Instead, this was a viewing room. She stood watching several scientists working on what appeared to be one of many robots. Either that, or some very intense body armor.

  Project Destiny was expanding.

  If her team ever had a chance of taking it down and exposing New Origins for what it was, they needed to make their move as soon as possible. As long as she wasn’t caught, today would be a big step in the right direction.

  A door opened and she ducked, not sure if the soldier who had just entered the room below had seen her. He wore black and green body armor and an exoskeleton, along with a helmet with the faceplate pulled up. From what she had seen, he had a thick beard.

  She slowly rose and peeked out over the wall to see that the soldier had been joined by two more. They were talking to one of the scientists, who was yelling that no, they hadn’t seen anyone come through and that they didn’t have access to this room.

  “We’ll see what Nightshade has to say about that,” the PD soldier with a beard said, lowering his faceplate and turning to leave.

  The others followed close behind, and Alice was about to turn when one of them glanced back her way. Faceplate up, he looked older than she remembered, but also stronger and more intense. His brown hair was hidden by the helmet, but she knew that pointed nose and curious eyes, those lips that had kissed her so many times, and that she had wondered if she would ever get a chance to kiss again.

  Marick, her husband, was less than twenty feet from where she stood.

  Her hands gripped the top of the half wall, pulling it tight as she fell to one knee, heart about to pound out of her chest and expose her. What then? Would he run to her, take her in his arms and smother her in kisses? Or, like Intrepid said they had done to him, had her husband also been part of a program that resulted in him losing specific memories?

  She had to believe this to be the case, because otherwise there was no doubt in her mind about whether he would’ve come looking for her. Which meant that, if he saw her now, he would give her up.

  That wouldn’t do.

  “Yo, Stealth,” a deep voice called back, “no lingering.”

  “Roger that,” Marick’s voice said, and then there was a muffled click of the door from the other side of the glass.

  Lowering her head behind the wall and clenching her eyes shut, Alice tried to process the moment, unable to understand her own thoughts and what she was supposed to do now. This was what she had come for—answers. Well, now she had a very large part of the puzzle, the piece that mattered most to her.

  The idea of getting into the server rooms never felt more urgent, but she knew what she had to do. It hit her like a PD soldier’s boot to the face.

  Turning on her comms, she said, “Intrepid, Swinger, Yerbuna… what’ve you got?”

  “It’s not easy,” Swinger said. “They’re throwing all sorts of defensive protocols up since the alarm went off, but they don’t know we’ve got the eye in there. And…”

  “Tell her!” Intrepid’s voice came, full of concern and worry, so very not like him.

  “There’s something you should see here,” Swinger said, hesitant. “But I think you need to get out of there first. This information, it might make you do something incredibly stupid.”

  “For the love of—” Intrepid started.

  “It’s okay,” Alice said, cutting him off. “If it’s about Marick, I know.”

  “You know?” Intrepid asked.

  “I just saw him. No, he didn’t see me, at least… I don’t think.”

  “Oh God, I’m so sorry,” Swinger said.

  “Alice…” Intrepid took a long moment, then sighed. “We’re getting him out of there.”

  “Yes, and I have a plan. I need you to find out everything you can about this new arrival of recruits.”

  “Recruits? PD recruits?”

  “Yes,” she nodded enthusiastically, even though she knew they couldn’t see her. “That’s the key to all of this. I’ll tell you when I get out of here.”

  With that she signed off, then made sure nobody was watching her before walking out of the closest door and making her way to the door just outside the workroom for the scientists. They were wearing blue jumpsuits and goggles, and she was glad to find several lockers outside the workroom where just such a uniform was hung, never to be worn by its owner again. She slipped it on over her other clothes, put on the goggles so that they rested on her head, and then made for the elevators.

  If anyone knew exactly who they were looking for, she would be in trouble. But, based on the interaction she had just seen between the soldier and the scientist, she was willing to bet most of the people in the dome wouldn’t be quick to challenge her in this outfit.

  More than anything, she wanted to turn around and find her husband. The man they now called “Stealth.” But that would come, and the next time she left this place, she told herself, it would be with him at her side, running off into the metaphorical sunset.

  19

  Stealth: The Dome

  Pete paused at the elevator, then turned back to face Stealth as he said, “Is this some form of newbie freakout? What’s up with you, man?”

  Stealth jogged forward, joining them in the elevator and apologizing for spacing. They had continued to check the floor, with no luck.

  “Must be what you said. Strange, being back in the dome.”

  Pete and Bloodhound shook their heads, pressing the up button to join the others who had just radioed in and said they were on the roof.

  They watched the lobby disappear beneath them. Most of the people were off to one side, being questioned. Only a couple of the PD soldiers and a female scientist were crossing the floor below.

  Again his mind wandered. Had he seen her back there, and if so, why hadn’t he said anything? Dammit, he was a Taipan now. It was time he acted like one of the family, not whatever the hell this was. He wanted to punch himself, and yet, he had instinctively known that saying nothing was the right course. Relief had washed over him when he’d realized the other two hadn’t seen her.

  Now he was starting to wonder if his mind was playing tricks on him, or if he’d really seen her at all. He had just finished with the pod enhancements before coming here, so it made sense that he might be having some issues with his mind.

  The strange thudding of his heart, though—that was an entirely different emotion altogether.

  “I know what you mean, kind of,” Pete said as the elevator approached the top floor. “About coming back now after training here, starting our first enhancements and all that. It’s a trip.”

  Bloodhound grunted.

  “That means he agrees,” Pete said with a laugh.

  “You want me to get all nostalgic?” Bloodhound asked. “Get me out there, flying around in space instead of down here, then bring me back. I’ll get nostalgic for anywhere but here.”

  Pete shook his head. “That too, man. If this is it forever, I’ll be happy as hell, sure. But we signed up to be out there, exploring. Making a difference.”

  “Killing aliens,” Bloodhound added, and the two did a fist bump.

  That was enough to pull Stealth back to the present. “I hope you two realize we might try to actually communicate with the aliens before killing them.”

  “Right…” Pete said. “As if they wouldn’t kill us if given the chance. Although, I’ve always wondered… what if the aliens we discover are just like a bunch of do
gs? Why not, right? I mean, before man discovered dogs and other animals, I’m sure finding them for the first time was quite confusing. Maybe aliens will be like that.”

  “What?” Stealth said.

  “Nah, I get it,” Bloodhound said. “Like the old days with Alexander the Great, and how they went to war with monkeys when they tried to move too far west. Because they thought they were little hairy people, not animals.”

  “Exactly!” Pete was beaming now. “So what if we find a whole planet of just dogs or cats? What, we all suddenly have new pets, or are we going to spend thirty or fifty years trying to communicate with them? We never did that with our modern Earth dogs and cats… right?”

  “No, I don’t think we did,” Stealth answered. “Though, some people definitely try.”

  “What about dolphins?” Pete went on, not even really listening to the reply. “Maybe we find a planet of all water, inhabited by dolphins only? Oh, or mermaids!”

  “First, it would be merpeople,” Bloodhound said. “Gotta have the men, or how would they have babies.”

  “Nah, they’d have us!”

  “There is so much wrong with what you just said,” Stealth said, shaking his head and glad to see the elevator doors opening. He had to admit though, Pete’s ridiculous conversation had been a nice distraction from his own confusing thoughts.

  They found another team of Taipans, Nightshade at their center, giving them orders for where else to search. According to her, there was no doubt that the enemy was somehow in the dome. If they didn’t find her, that was their failure.

  “Doesn’t she know we’re exhausted?” Pete asked under his breath.

  “Speak for yourself,” Stealth replied.

  “Ah, right. You just got out of the pod, you probably feel like you just slept for a year straight.”

  Stealth nodded, but his mind was already wandering back to thoughts of the woman. He needed answers. He needed to know what he was doing here.