Battleframe (The Mindwars Book 1)

  “I have no idea, but I’m at the point that nothing’s going to surprise me anymore. Bosk, we’re sitting on a planet four point three light years from Earth discussing what is and what’s not possible. Only a few days ago we were playing a game on our computers at home. I was more worried about the next client than saving the whole of humanity.”

  “Point well made. Marie always said that I spent too much of my time on my PC. She kept on saying that I should go for a walk and get some fresh air. I don’t think this is what she quite had in mind.”

  “What I would like to know is what else we can do? Has anything else been changed?”

  Bosk looked back at his friend and said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if a whole lot of things have been altered and we’ve become some sort of cyborg or something.”

  “I’m not sure I agree with you there. I feel great. In fact, I would say that I can’t remember the last time I felt this good.”

  “Come to think of it, I agree with you. I feel wonderful! I remember dragging myself out of bed this morning after last night’s festivities but now I feel like I could run a marathon.”

  “So physically we feel fine and mentally we’ve somehow been hyper-charged as well. Let’s test this telepathy a little.” Whizzbang thought of his study back home and while he did this he thought to Bosk, “What am I thinking of right now?”

  “I’ve got nothing,” Bosk sent to Whizzbang.

  “Hmmmm…..interesting. It appears that we can keep thoughts private even as I think at you. By the way, I was imagining my study back home. Let’s try something else. Why don’t you try and find out what I’m thinking and I’ll try and stop you?”

  “Sort of like when we first spoke? It hurt when you sent your thought. I’m willing to try but don’t complain if you end up with a headache.”

  Whizzbang mentally braced himself for Bosk’s thought by imagining there was a wall between his friend and his mind.

  Bosk spoke audibly, “Are you ready?”

  Whizzbang nodded and braced his feet. He did not know what to expect so he naturally tried to expect everything. Bosk mentally balled up his will inside of himself and then pushed it almost tentatively at his friend. He watched in amazement as a pulsing golden beam of mental force that only they could both see slowly extended from himself towards his friend. Suddenly it stopped about a foot away from Whizzbang. It was like hitting a brick wall. His mental energy seemed to claw and grab at an unseen barrier until it finally dissipated.

  Bosk stopped the mental attack and said audibly, “OK, that was interesting. I’ve never seen colours come out of my head before. What was it like from your side?”

  With a bit of relief, Whizzbang relaxed his shield and mentally said, “I felt like someone was knocking on the door. It wasn’t that difficult to stop but it could get pretty annoying. Let me try with you.”

  “I only pushed out a little so be gentle. You have a tendency to get excited at times and that might give me one heck of a hangover.”

  “Bosk, trust me,” Whizzbang said as he smiled, “You know what I’m like.”

  Bosk rolled his eyes, “Exactly what I’m worried about.” He steeled himself for the attack that Whizzbang would throw at him and mentally created a wall. Finally, he said, “OK, I’m ready.”

  Whizzbang mentally pushed his will towards Bosk, not too hard at first but he steadily stepped up the pressure way above Bosk’s first test. He watched as a brilliant blue beam of energy launched itself at his friend and hammered at the mental shield. Sparks splattered across the surface of the invisible barrier as his mental force began to squeeze down. It was like the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. Bosk’s barrier pushed back even as Whizzbang increased the attack and then as suddenly as it began, Whizzbang stopped.

  “Hey Whizz, I thought you were really going to hammer me?”

  “I did,” Whizzbang replied thoughtfully and then continued, “While I was bearing down on your shield I got a sense of who you actually are, Bosk. I’ve always loved you as a friend but this was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Whizzbang paused before sending, “I don’t know how else to explain it but that I got a sense of your internal mental fortitude, the steel of your soul if you will. You would have died before you would surrender to any attack. For want of a better word, you’re incorruptible.”

  Bosk, mentally blushed and said, “Err, ahhh….thanks for that, I’ve never been told that before.

  “I mean it. It was incredible!”

  Bosk replied, “Enough about me. When you really poured it onto my shield, I never realised half of what your willpower and drive was capable. I now know that you will never give up and never surrender no matter what. Whatever the situation you have a way of thinking that means you will either succeed or die trying.”

  “I wouldn’t go as far as that.”

  “I would now. After knowing you for over thirty five years I now finally understand that about you.”

  Both friends looked at each other with a renewed sense of respect just as the sun rose a hands breadth into the sky. A number of mechanics and technicians chatted amicably as they made their way to the various repair stations around the main courtyard. A few glanced at the two men in their battleframes that appeared to be staring at each other, shrugged their shoulders and went about their duties. You had to have a very particular mindset to be a battleframe pilot and it was clear that these two had seen too much combat.

  Whizzbang raised his arms above his head and gave an almighty stretch. “I don’t know about you but all this work is making me hungry. Let’s go find the others and tell them what we’ve discovered.”

  “I’m with you. Do you think they’ll have steaks for breakfast? I’m starved!”

  Mentally laughing Whizzbang said, “To answer that question all we’ve got to do is find Pyro and Elzetro.”

  Up next to the scanning tower Wisdom, Creativity and Intellect smiled to one another as an important stage in the multi-millennium long plan had just slipped into place. After eons of patiently waiting, like a supernova, key events seemed to be suddenly exploding outwards.

  Creativity said with reverence in her voice, “Did you hear how loud they were?”

  “Yes, it was incredible,” stated Wisdom. Turning to Intellect he asked, “I assumed that you shielded them?”

  “Of course. We couldn’t have them announcing their presence to half the galaxy.”

  Creativity said, “They’re already learning but they will need some time to fully understand their potential.”

  “They have some time still,” Wisdom said thoughtfully.

  Chapter 8

  Breakfast

  Whizzbang and Bosk did not see their sons in the mess hall so they headed Pyro and Elzetro’s sleeping quarters. Whizzbang noiselessly pushed the door open, revealing their sons mess of clothes strewn across the floor and the two comatose bodies asleep in their beds. The dual reverberating snores sounding more like caged animals rather than a couple of young men who had altogether too much fun at Folly’s the previous night. Despite being light years from home, it was clear that both their sons still knew how to have a good time.

  Whizzbang caught Bosk’s attention and touched his finger to his lips to suggest being quiet. Smiling, he then thought towards his friend, “I forgot that I could be quiet by talking telepathically. I was just wondering if we can see what their dreaming about?”

  “Do you think it’s even possible?”

  “Only one way to find out…”

  Whizzbang focused a soft faint wafting thought towards Pyro while Bosk did the same for Elzetro. They would later laugh at their clumsy attempt to insinuate themselves into another mind but at this stage in their development this was as good as it was going to get. The questing mental probe tapped lightly at the edge of Pyro’s consciousness and skirted around to try to find a way in. It was like picking a highly complex lock. Whizzbang concentrated
harder; there was something there, something almost visible but not quite tangible. If he just prodded a little more…

  Like twin alarm bells, Pyro’s eyes flew open and stared straight into his father’s eyes with a momentary confused look on his face. “What the?” which was quickly followed by, “Dad, what are you doing here?”

  “I’ll explain later son.”

  After the initial surprise, Pyro let out a huge yawn, “Until you interrupted, I was having the best dream. I was just about to get to know that gorgeous blonde Bio frame pilot. You know…”

  Elzetro let out a sudden “Yelp” as he leapt out of his bed, interrupting Pyro’s description of his dream. Looking bleary eyed and a little confused Elzetro asked, “Dad? Whizz? What are you doing here?”

  “I think I may have pushed a little too hard,” Bosk thought towards Whizzbang a little sheepishly.

  “You think? I thought that he was going to dislocate his shoulder leaping out of bed like that,” Whizzbang laughingly thought back.

  Whizzbang stated flatly, “As your commanding officers and fathers we thought that it was about time you both got your lazy backsides out of bed.”

  Pyro let out a groan as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up.

  Whizzbang continued, “After breakfast we’d like you to put on your battleframes and get used to them for real. It won’t be long before we’re in combat and we don’t want to be sloppy in a life and death situation. So go and get cleaned up and we’ll meet you in the mess hall in fifteen minutes.”

  Whizzbang and Bosk, still attired in their Raven battleframes, left their sons and headed to the mess hall for breakfast.

  “You’re not going to say anything?” Bosk asked.

  “Say what? We don’t know whether they will be impacted by their frames or not.”

  “That’s true.”

  “Bosk, without those battleframes the boys will be sitting ducks for any Scourge attack. They have to try them on. It’s quite literally a matter of life or death.”

  “I suppose your right. I just don’t want to see them go through the process we went through.”

  “I understand. Besides, could you imagine if we told them that they couldn’t come to Central and that they weren’t allowed to wear their battleframes?”

  Bosk gave a little mental chuckle, “They’d be in their frames following us as soon as our backs were turned.”

  “You bet they would, and if we were them, we’d be doing exactly the same thing. We also can’t risk telling them anything.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We seem to have come through the process intact. It could be because we didn’t know anything. If we told them about what might happen then it could mess the whole thing up.”

  “I never thought of that.”

  So on the way to breakfast Whizzbang and Bosk decided to do nothing and trust fate to look after their sons when they tried their battleframes on for the very first time.

  When they reached the mess hall, Whizzbang and Bosk spotted Kheldar and DG who were both already working their way through a plate of scrambled eggs and a pile of bacon. After helping themselves to a generous portion from the servery, they joined two other men from Earth.

  “What are you grumbling about Bosk?” asked DG.

  Letting out a deep sight Bosk replied, “They didn’t have any steaks ready.”

  Kheldar laughed as he said, “Steak for breakfast? I thought you Australians would have brought your own supply of vegemite or something.”

  “And what’s wrong with vegemite?” Whizzbang interjected.

  To the laughs of the others around him Kheldar screwed up his face as he pantomimed scrubbing his tongue while he said, “Look Whizz, no offense but I’ve had that stuff and it’s like eating salty axle grease.”

  Whizzbang acted as if he was mortally offend. “I have no idea why you Americans throw away the best part of the beer fermentation process.”

  DG’s head shot up at the mention of beer, “Did someone say beer?”

  The friendly banter continued back and forth across the table and a few minutes later the boys joined the table with plates precariously balancing a tower of food.

  Bosk thought sheepishly to Whizzbang, “I loved those days when I didn’t have to worry about the calories?”

  “You got that right!” came the instant reply.

  Breakfast finished and after cleaning up the six Earthmen headed down to the courtyard for the “undressed” men to don their battleframes.

  Whizzbang and Bosk looked on as DG and Kheldar stepped into their boots and held out their arms as the nanites automatically wrapped their battleframe snuggly around their bodies. Both pilots kept on talking as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

  Unlike Kheldar and DG, Pyro and Elzetro exuberantly let out a little “whoop!” of joy as they clipped into their oversized battleframe boots that also housed their jump jets. They held their arms out and let the frame go to work securing the bindings into position for maximum effectiveness. Both young men continued to talk excitedly to each other with their fathers looking on and then abruptly, they stopped and keeled over as the nanomed injection sunk home.

  Bosk thought to Whizzbang, “Why them and not DG and Kheldar?”

  “I have no idea but I imagine there will be some reason.”

  Both young men bore the torment of the microscopic machines melding with their DNA. Like their fathers, they crashed through the barrier that separated them from becoming fully alive and developed. After coming to their senses, they embraced their new world not as boys but as fully mature men who are secure in their strengths and weaknesses. It was the day that Pyro and Elzetro grew up and became men.

  Chapter 9

  Central

  The glide and jet-walk westward to Concord Central Command did not take very long to complete but it was enough time to discuss what had and had not happened to each of them. Both DG and Kheldar were ambivalent about not having gained the ability to broadcast their thoughts, especially when they discovered that if one of the other four instigated a communication, then they were able to talk via telepathy just fine. The two young men were initially a bit miffed that their fathers did not say anything prior to them donning their battleframes, but after their fathers explained their decision, they came to terms with it. With the good grace of sons who loved their fathers, they let the issue go.

  Before leaving, Whizzbang left orders with Selfia to continue patrols and a recommendation to send Acheron and a squad southward to see if there were any survivors since the invasion began. She suggested that Gardner’s teams recommence Digging for tellurite to the north and he agreed it was a good idea.

  A long tunnel that could fit two large trucks side by side facilitated the journey to Central. Years earlier, Concord engineers had drilled through the mountain range that created a natural barrier between Freehold and Central Command. As they travelled, Whizzbang marvelled at the size of the regularly spaced giant plasteel beams that supported the roof above. The tunnel sloped gently downwards and exited at the base of a sheltered valley that housed Central. It was sloped at an ideal angle for squads to rapidly jet-slip their way a few feet off the floor on flaming jump jets until they exited the end of the tunnel.

  Concord Central Command was a huge complex that had grown around the superstructure of a half-built space cruiser. It did not take long before the base expanded around the cruiser to house the necessary facilities to keep the Concord’s presence on Alpha Three intact. Shielding his eyes with his hand against the midday sun, Whizzbang looked upwards towards the bridge and a giant topside gun emplacement mounted on the upper deck of the half-completed cruiser. Pointing upwards, he said aloud to the others, “We’re headed way up there. I’ve only been there a couple of times before in the game, but that’s where Franky and the other big chiefs make all of the decisions for Alpha’s defence. By the way, did any of you notice if your reflexes have improved? I’ve never balanced on my jets while shooti
ng down a slope so well in my life.” He suddenly started laughing at himself, “Not that I’ve done it for real before!”

  It was not long before all of them realized the craziness of the situation and they joined in with the laughter. It was so natural to think that they had done everything before but in reality, this was the first time any of them had actually done anything. They’d played a computer game, learned the basic concepts and then had their consciousness transported to Alpha Three but never had they jet-slipped or done any of this before. It was exhilarating!

  After recovering from his fit of laughing at the irony, Bosk replied, “I did notice that we all seemed to be able to skim a lot better. Hang on, give me a second will you.” Looking around, Bosk bent down, picked up a broken tree branch off the ground, and said, “Let me test something out.”

  Walking over to Elzetro, Bosk held the stick up and said, “I’m going to drop the stick and I want to see how fast you can grab it.”

  “When will you drop it?”

  “I’m not going to tell…” Bosk smiled just as he let go the branch.

  Almost instantaneously, Elzetro closed his hand and held the stick. It had only moved a fraction of millimetre downwards. Bosk performed the same test on Whizzbang and Pyro and then had Elzetro drop the stick for him. All of the tests were nearly identical. He then conducted the same experiment on DG and Kheldar and was pleasantly surprised to find that they too had super-enhanced reflexes, although not quite as quick as the other four.

  “Whoa! It seems that we haven’t been left out after all DG!” yelped Kheldar.

  “As long as it allows me to kill Scourge faster then I’m in!” DG replied.

  Whizzbang thought to Bosk, “Could it be our genetics? There’s something special about all of us because we’re from Earth but the particular genetic code of our ancestry has provided further enhancements.”

  “Who knows Whizz? As long as it helps to keep us alive I’m happy.”

  Whizzbang mentally nodded and then said aloud, “I couldn’t agree with you more DG. The Scourge are on our doorstep and we’ll need every advantage we can get to stop them. We’re nearly there so let’s get moving and see what Concord Central Command has to say about the state of affairs.”