The Esoteric Design: Disbanding Hope

by A. R. Crebs

  “Copied his DNAIS so we’ll have a full report at least,” Monkey added.

  Spoofy shoved her hands onto her hips, nodding quickly, her mouth zipped tight. “Yeah, perfect. We’ve completely botched the mission.”

  “Hey, we took down the big critter. I’d say we done a hell of a job,” Zombie spoke up.

  “We’re still alive. I’d say that’s a win…right?” Kaino asked.

  Kaino was the team medic. He did what he could on the field and was often helpful in a gunfight. He was also skilled with knives and had saved a teammate’s ass a time or two. He was the perfect replacement for Viper—who had met his demise during the war—and was much more pleasant to be around. The kid, however, was no longer a kid. He had grown from the tall, scrawny, nervous recruit into a full-blown soldier. He towered over nearly everyone on the team, only coming up short on Troy. His giant red-tipped mohawk only made him all the more menacing. To add to his intimidating appearance, his brawn was awe-inspiring. For being a field medic, Kaino could take on any soldier when it came to strength. For years, the team joked about changing his name to 'Roid', but Kaino’s native heritage had kept him adamant about keeping his name. Thus, no one pressed the issue.

  “Always thinking on the positive, ain’t ya?” Zombie muttered as he toe-poked the hand again.

  “Someone’s got to. You guys are all anti-zen.” Kaino wiped his knife off on his pants. He was always cleaning the thing.

  Spoofy twisted around, her hands on her hips. “And let me guess…you all left Nerd by himself again?”

  “He’s safe in the bunker,” Monkey said. “Besides, you think he’d leave his girlfriend behind?”

  Zombie laughed at the statement.

  “You mean his drone, Bridgette?” Spoofy snorted. “Guy needs to get out more. Still, who knows what will show up next after the amount of noise we just made. We better head back.” Spoofy trudged forward, heading to the side of the compound where Nerd was located in the underground bunker.

  When they arrived, the whole place smelt like electrical fire. Nerd was fanning his hand over a comp device, coughing and cursing. Spoofy sauntered in, circling the table and eyeing the seemingly fried part the technician was fussing with.

  “I take it that was the navigational panel we needed for the Hawk…” she murmured.

  Nerd, giving an aggravated snarl, nodded. “That would be it.”

  “Can you use this?” Monkey asked, dropping his heavy pack onto the table.

  “Jeez! Careful with that, man!” Kaino winced. “Got my health pack inside.”

  Nerd’s eyes lit up. “Did you get it?!” he asked.

  “Core crystal drive is inside along with a few other random parts we could find.” Monkey smiled widely, pleased with himself. “Also found a pack of candy bars.”

  Nerd unzipped the bag, his fingers dancing as he peered inside. “Ohhh! Hoo hoo!” He laughed, pulling out the core drive. “Ain’t she beautiful?! Look Bridgette!” Nerd heaved the drive into the air, plopping the item onto the table before the round drone. “Wish I could miniaturize the thing. Make you a pretty gem to wear.” He poked the bot. It whined in response.

  Zombie rubbed his brow, eyeballing Monkey humorously.

  Kaino slipped between the men, snatching up a candy bar. He tossed one to Spoofy, and soon they had melted into their chairs, finally relaxing after the recent adrenaline rush. The food supply was running short, and they had minimized all water usage the past few days. If Nerd couldn’t repair the Hawk soon, they’d be hoofing it to the nearest base or city-state to try and find a transport of some sort. The idea didn’t seem all that enticing as the closest compound would be hundreds of kilometers in every direction. They’d most likely die first of heat exhaustion, dehydration, starvation, or by monsters.

  “You think you can fix it?” Spoofy asked with her mouth full of caramel.

  “What?” Nerd asked, tearing his attention to the woman. “The Hawk?” he scoffed, scratching his goatee.

  She gave him an irritated nod.

  “Psh! Yeah! Of course!” Nerd exclaimed. “Ain’t nothin' I can’t do with this baby.” He slapped the side of the drive.

  Spoofy clapped her hands together. “Great! Then you can get your ass in gear and get that chopper fixed before another one of those lava monsters shows up.”

  Nerd heaved a loud groan. “Damn pissy woman! You’re such a slave driver!”

  Spoofy clenched her metallic fist and waved it before her face, her eyebrow rising past her forehead. The men were always mesmerized by the eyebrow raise. The furry brow seemed to have a mind of its own as it could detach and arch much higher than anatomically seemed possible.

  “Yeah, yeah. Gettin’ right to it.” The man waved a hand at her.

  While Nerd tinkered with his supplies, making sure to finish Bridgette’s upgrades first, Spoofy watched Monkey with a careful eye.

  “How many of those have you had?” she asked.

  “What?” Monkey replied, opening another candy bar. He heard her plain as day but was more irritated with her pointing it out.

  “Is that your fifth candy bar?” she asked.

  “Maybe,” he grumbled, shoving the treat into his mouth.

  She scowled, stood up, marched to the man, and tugged the bar from his hand.

  “Hey! What the hell?!” he shouted, shocked.

  “And you wonder why you’re getting fat. Stop eating so much!” She waved the bar in his face before tossing it to Kaino to finish.

  Monkey nearly wept at the sight of Kaino unhesitatingly scarfing down the chocolate in one bite. “But he ate as many as I did!” he protested.

  Spoofy folded her arms. “He works out for hours every day; he can eat as many candy bars as he wants.”

  “I work out,” Monkey pouted.

  Zombie snorted, rolling his eyes. “You work out your jaw muscles!”

  Spoofy gave a sarcastic laugh. “You told me to keep you from eating too much junk food.”

  “Babe! I’m starving!” Monkey whined.

  “Good! Maybe your body will eat itself!” she growled, biting into her snack.

  As she turned away, Monkey slapped her rear-end.

  “Hey…monkey see, monkey do. Maybe you should lay off the candy bars, too,” he huffed.

  Nerd quickly chimed in, “You jes’ rhymed.”

  Spoofy spun back around, readying to smack Monkey upside the head, but he caught her arm and gave a boisterous laugh. “I’m just joking!”

  She tugged her arm away, glaring at him with her crazy eyebrows. She finished her candy bar and plopped back into her chair, watching Nerd work.

  Monkey leaned back with his feet on the table. “Why are you women always so moody?”

  “Because we’re surrounded by idiot men,” Spoofy snapped.

  Kaino butted in this time. “Hey…I have a Ph.D.”

  Spoofy sat up, holding her hands out toward Kaino. “See? Brains and brawn. The perfect specimen.”

  Kaino gave a sheepish smile while Monkey sulked.

  “I graduated high school,” Nerd added as he passed by the woman.

  She patted him softly on the head. “You’re cute,” she said in a condescending manner.

  Nerd shrugged. “I try!” He looked at his bot. “Hear that Bridgette? I’m cute!”

  A strange noise similar to flatulence sounded from the drone.

  Nerd paced back to his workstation, holding his chin high. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  Spoofy rubbed her forehead, letting out a sigh. “I feel dumber already.”

  “Don’t ya worry, Ms. Spoofy. I’ll get the Hawk into the air in no time.” Nerd gave her a lovable smile, his green eyes creasing. She couldn’t help but return the expression.

  Nerd may have been an easy target to tease, but the man truly was a mechanical and technological genius. He was self-taught, too. Anything that had moving parts Nerd could fix. At his current age and experience, all he had to do was look at an object, and he c
ould figure out how the whole thing operated. Not only that, but he was a master of transforming one part into another. If he didn’t have the proper tool or hardware, he could jury-rig something entirely unrelated into a fully functioning part. In fact, Spoofy had seen him turn an entire M28 Shredder into a tiny motor using only a few spare parts. It all made sense to him, but it was like rocket science to her. She didn’t care as long as he got things running.

  After having a dinner of chocolate bars, Spoofy and the others eventually passed out from sugar overload. Nerd kept feverishly working, the candy providing more than enough fuel to keep him going. After an hour, he and Bridgette finished up reworking the navigational panel, taking a few spare chips from the crystal core. The drive provided much more useful than Nerd had hoped. Not only had he been able to fix up the navigational panel, but he was able to upgrade it and a number of other electronic parts for the Hawk. He traveled back and forth from the bunker to the helicopter, constantly looking over his shoulder as he left the tunnel each time. He couldn’t help but feel like he was constantly watched. He was sure the critters were waiting for the perfect time to strike. Bridgette kept a careful watch, sending out sonar and thermal readings for Nerd while he worked. Though, the drone couldn’t help but squeal every once and a while just to get a rise out of her owner.

  “Damnit, Bridgette! Would ya knock it off?” Nerd shouted after the sixth time the high-pitched noise screeched.

  This time the drone didn’t stop but kept up the sound in even beats. A blinking light on his wrist alerted him, and he gave a quick yelp as he slammed the navigational panel back into the Hawk’s motor. Twirling, the man sprinted down the tunnel back into the bunker, his DNAIS chiming in alarm.

  “Spoof!” he shouted.

  The woman jumped at the noise, already glancing at her wrist which was sounding off. The chimes beeped at irregular intervals between the entire team. Soon, the whole squad was awake in alarm, staring at the light. Spoofy clicked against her wrist, her DNAIS pulling up a distress beacon.

  A robotic voice called out, words scattering across the holo-screen.

  “SAR REQUEST. SAR REQUEST. HAWK DOWN. HAWK DOWN. BIO-TECH CLASS A-5 AND A-4 MILITARY FIGHTERS IN NEED OF ASSITANCE. INJURIES SUSTAINED. LOCATION: IVES. SURVIVORS: PILOT, AREN HAGAR. UNKNOWN: CLASS A-5 OPERATIVE, ARIA IVANOV…CLASS A-4 OPERATIVE, TROY MOREAU. REPEAT…”

  The SOS repeated. Spoofy confirmed retrieval and rose from her seat.

  “Nerd…you got that Hawk ready?” she eagerly asked.

  All the others were already gathering their gear and cleaning up Nerd’s mess.

  “Yes, ma’am. Just finished ‘er up.” He nodded.

  “Great. Get her started. We’re heading out ASAP.” She grabbed her bag, already having everything packed and ready beforehand. “Come on, ladies! We’ve got to help out our friends!”

  Zombie followed quickly behind, sucking down his cigarette like it was his last. Kaino ran up to the man, multiple packs slung across his back and arms. He reached around the cowboy and tugged on the cig, throwing it to the ground. Zombie didn’t protest outside of a grunt. He knew he was supposed to have quit the habit long ago, and Kaino was a constant reminder.

  Following the team down the tunnel, Kaino called out to Monkey, “Hurry it up, chunky-monkey! We’ll leave without you!”

  Monkey finished scooping his arsenal into his knapsack, making sure not to forget the candy bars. Shoving another into his mouth, he was sure to finish the sweet before boarding the Hawk so Spoofy wouldn’t notice. Kaino and Zombie no sooner tugged Monkey into the craft before Nerd had lifted it off the ground, the doors closing around them.

  “Jet mode activated, ladies and gents. ETA: 65 minutes,” Nerd called out over the com.

  Spoofy and the others buckled themselves, all anxiously trying to settle in. They eyed one another and then took varying glances out the side window as the Britainia Congo disappeared from view.

  “Never a moments rest,” Monkey muttered.

  “Hated that place. Hopefully, where we’re going is a lot better,” Zombie drawled.

  Spoofy gave an unsure groan. “Don’t bet on it.”

  “Where we goin’ again?” Monkey asked.

  “God! Do you ever pay attention?” Spoofy eyed him angrily. She noticed the chocolate smeared on the corner of his mouth, and her frown deepened.

  “I was gathering my stuff!” he protested.

  Spoofy sighed, pulling up a map on her DNAIS. She pointed to their designated destination.

  “Remember that place from all those fairytales Aria used to read that we used to make fun of?” Spinning the map around for the others to see, she brushed through her hair. “Looks like that’s the source of all the action. Aria and Troy are stranded in Ives. And based on the report…there’s a possibility that they may not be alive.”

  “You think they may be dead?” Monkey asked slowly.

  Spoofy shrugged. “The report said it was inconclusive. Meaning the Hawk had crashed, and their pilot has no idea whether or not they are living. If that’s the case, then I can assume that they weren’t at the site of the wreck. Possibilities could be endless. We’re on a search and rescue mission, boys. We do not rest until Aria and Troy’s bodies are found…dead or alive.” Shutting down the map, she rested her chin in the palm of her hand, looking out the window while the men exchanged worried looks.

  Aria and Troy were heroes. They were often the ones to rescue the rest of the team’s juvenile asses. Now it appeared as though the tables had turned. It was up to Spoofy and the others to save them. At least, she hoped Aria and Troy were still living enough to be saved. Chances were if something took them down; it had to be big and bad. Spoofy hoped her gang was capable of rescuing their leaders without getting into trouble themselves. She gave a nervous exhale. Things were getting a bit scary.

  ‘Aria, you had better be alive,’ Spoofy thought, looking over the rest of her team. ‘You can’t leave me alone with these guys.’

  "Spoofy"

  Chapter 15

  The sweltering heat of the desert sun was horrendous, engulfing all that was in white light. Aria felt like she was boiling, her body being covered in sweat. Opening her eyes with a flutter, her pupils thinned into tiny dots as she focused on the bright sphere above her. She immediately clenched them shut; her sight remained white behind her lids. Licking her dry, cracked lips, she covered her face. Everything was like a fog. Her head was pounding, but the pain was quickly fading. Giving a rattling cough, she rolled to her side, her hand sticking to the tacky blood on her shirt. Hiding the sunlight behind her hand, Aria looked to her other blood-soaked one. She moved her fingers, the blood cracking like paint against her palm. At first she was confused; then realization hit her.

  Giving a sharp gasp, she sat up, tugging on her shirt. Blood had soaked her clothing at one time, but now was mostly dry. She stuck a finger through the singed hole, wiggling it, and then moved the material from side to side, trying to catch a glimpse of her stomach wound. Nothing. There was nothing there but the red stain of her blood. There was no bullet wound. Placing her hand on her back, she gave a quiet whimper as she palmed the cloth. She felt no pain, felt no hole, and drew her hand back to find it dry. The longer she was awake, the better she felt, and soon she was jumping to her feet. Grabbing the opening at the front of her shirt, Aria pulled and tore the hole wider. She stared at her bare stomach, continuing to pull the shirt apart all around her lower torso. Still nothing. She was completely healed.

  “How?” she whispered, checking herself repeatedly. “I…I don’t get it.”

  She looked up, and fear stilled her. Troy lay not far away, but he appeared very dead. Aria gave a shout and sprang forward. She dropped harshly to her knees, reaching to check his vitals. Blood caked the whole right side of his face and neck. A cry erupted from Aria when she felt no pulse. Snatching his wrist, she pressed against his DNAIS, activating his vitals log. The screen blipped slowly, static streaking across it. Dovian coul
d’ve fried his system, but there was a small singular beep that chimed, and the woman’s eyes widened. She waited another moment, staring at the screen with her full attention.

  “Come on…” she whispered. “Come on….”

  She looked back down at Troy’s face. He was paler than she’d ever seen, but his cheeks were red from sunburn. The blood that had poured from him was now dry and a dark shade that matched the cracks in the desert ground.

  “Please!” she pleaded, staring at his DNAIS.

  It blipped again, and Aria gave a shuddering breath. She placed a hand on Troy’s face, calling out to him.

  “Wake up, Troy. Please tell me you’re still alive.” Tears stung her eyes as her hand fell on his chest. There was a faint rumble beneath her fingertips, and the machine blipped again. Confused, Aria pressed her ear against the man’s chest. Sure enough, she heard a quiet vibration, and the DNAIS called out to her once again.

  “That,” she looked at the display again, “…isn’t right.”

  As she pushed against the screen, Aria’s heart skipped a beat. Choking on a sobbing laugh, she felt a mixture of emotions–relief, sadness, and anger.

  “Oh my God, Troy!” she growled. “You have a pacemaker?!” She hit him in the chest, causing the DNAIS to beep once again.

  Of course, he would need one after the heart attacks he went through in the hospital. But what she didn’t understand was why he hadn’t told her. In that instant, Aria didn’t care. All that mattered was that the previous heart attacks were a godsend. If it weren't for the pacemaker, he would certainly be dead. Right now, it was the only thing keeping him alive.

  Aria swiped across the holographic image, clicking on a series of commands.

  “Resuscitate?” she asked with a shaky breath. “Uh…yeah? Yeah, I think so.” Panicked, she pressed the commanding button. She screamed and gave a jump as Troy’s body jolted with electric shock from the internal defibrillator.

  “Oh, God!” She covered the lower half of her face, watching in fear as his body shook a second time.