“Fourth Space Division: Quantum Soldiers.”
“Ma’am, yes ma’am!”
Underneath the banner of Human Revitaliza, we were all lined up inside the Moon Cruiser. Human and android alike were gathered for this momentous time. Our leader, Star General Luxia Starborn stood on top of the podium. She wore an old ill-fashioned green cloak adorned with medallions and symbols that were said to have been found before the earth was destroyed by the Red Giant.
Like the rest of us, she had been born after the earth shattering events but she wore it with pride. It was said that her tenth great-great grandfather was an important military official during his time. Now she stood in front of us, hushing the entire crowd before she would address us.
“On this very moment, we have finally made a breakthrough in our quantum realm research!”
Cheers exploded everywhere.
We weren't exactly sure what quantum meant and how it would change our situation, but it was a triumphant moment. A cube-like device was put on hologram, displayed to be a small object that could fit in one hand. For some reason, it reminded me of a simple toy.
“Looking so lost?”
My attention turned to my co-pilot. Alexia.
Her luminous orange eyes never ceased to enrapture me in her gaze. She wore a white body suit that hugged her figure welcomingly. I cleared my throat and resumed my attention to look onto her face.
“I’m just curious how it wor—”
Red light spilled across the entire arena, alarms began blaring.
“Code 247. Repeat: Code 247.”
The people around me looked around wildly, as energy thrummed in the air. Of course the Chroaks would take the opportunity to strike at a time like this.
“Attention!”
Before a disparaged crowd could break loose, the General’s voice broke through and brought order back into the crowd with but a simple command.
“Combat Formation 078.”
The alarm was still running, but now everybody had an objective. We were now moving for our MSUs. A strong grip would latch on my wrist, Alexia was already tugging me to our own launch pod.
As the doors were closing—bright light seared through our gazes before darkness finally took over and we were dropping so fast that blood was surely inside my head now. After a moment or perhaps after several minutes, consciousness returned.
“What happened?”
It was a stupid question, only a blue nova beam could have done that. Alexia’s eyes seemed to be the only light inside the pod, but even they refused to tell a single thing. We were done for.
“Let’s get going to our unit.” she said to me.
It was no use— the doors slowly opened and revealed the hangar. White light filled the entire room and revealed the Mecha Soldier Units that were still present. Ours was unit 64 and we made a run for it. Who knows how long the generators would work, parts of the cruiser was already vaporized.
.
.
.
Deep breaths.
My oxygen regulator was probably malfunctioning, the tightness in my chest wasn’t going away. The controller was shaking in my grip, it was all over. Why were we even fighting? Humanity should have been wiped out ages ago.
“Blast the hatch open.” Alexia said as she moved around the cockpit, switching on sideboards instead of moving in to her own position.
“W-what?!”
“We don’t have time.”
“The others—”
“Are already dead if they had been a second slower than us. Now blast.”
She was right, she was always the right one between the two of us. It was a wonder how I had gotten stuck with her. Gritting my teeth, I lumbered the unit forward, and connected the telec-link.
“Hyper-drive blast.”
Green energy sizzled through the MSU’s hands before it burst through the hatch. MSU emerged from the cruiser, and we were welcomed into the expanse of space. Or what would have been the overwhelming darkness of space if not for the battle that was already ongoing. Other MSU were engaging Chroak’s battleships to varying degrees of success.
Guilt trickled into my chest. It was callous of me to say that humanity should have been wiped out ages ago... right here and right now we were making a stand.
“Alexia, we’ll engage with the Chroakian Unit four sections away.”
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“No.” she said.
“Alexia, I know it’s a losing battle but—”
My seat was spun into her direction. Alexia’s lips were curled into a frown as she held out an object. The same exact device that our Star General had presented in what seemed like a lifetime ago.
“How did you get—”
“Quantum Cube Delver.” She thrust it into my hands.
“What am I going to do with this?”
“Save humanity of course.”
Alexia was crazy, I don’t know how she managed to get this… but our pride and hope now lay in our hands.
“What about you? You’re my co-pilot, I can’t do this without you.”
She gave me a smile, a smile that nearly put an end to my palpitating heart. The surroundings around her seemed to blow up, casting a fiery halo around her. My imagination was going crazy right now as I waited for her response.
“Of course I’ll—”
But it wasn’t a daydream.
A missile was launched against us.
It blew up our MSU into pieces before Alexia could even finish her sentence.
As we were thrown into outer space, my own suit immediately adjusted to the change in atmospheric levels. A clear gauze forming over my face, before I could even fathom what occurred.
“Alexia!”
The inter-com was not working.
Where was she?
The debris of the MSU was floating everywhere...and then there she was.
Her smile still on her face.
A gaping hole pierced through her… networks.
It was hard to maneuver through the space and all of the remains of our MSU, before I finally held her hand. I didn’t know what to say.
“You were too beautiful to be...”
My hands clasped around hers. I should have seen it from the start, but I was selfishly blind. A small glint caught my attention, the cube was floating away.
Sighing inwardly, I snatched it out of floating into oblivion.
But right at that moment, light emitted from the cube before it engulfed my senses.
.
.
.
The sky was blue.
That was the first thing that came to mind as I gazed out. It was breathtaking.
We had seen countless galaxies, nebulae and interstellar connections as we traversed through space. Planets, stars and comets that were larger, more vivid and awe inducing than anything.
But seeing the sky for the very first time, and not just through the Visual Reality Projection during Historical Lectures was also magnificent. Then there were white fluffy condensement in the air that surrounded me. It was like the Milky Way but also different… clouds?
“Welcome to Planet Earth.”
A voice in my head? Alexia?
“You are currently twenty thousand feet up in the air and descending.”
I looked around and realized that I really was floating down. Tall structures soon welcomed me and an endless wave of small ants… wait, those were people! There were so many of them! So many of us? It felt weird to say that.
“Synchronizing time loop...Year 2019.”
Once I had safely reached the ground, there seemed to be a shimmer in the air. The suit soon began changing its physical appearance… it turned into what our General had been wearing. Except the color was more vibrant, and the fabric seemed to be newer.
Thud
“Hey, watch where you're going!”
A man had bumped into me, complained but kept on walking. They seem to have been concentrated on a hand held device in their hands. I blinked and immediately felt for the cube. Finding it inside a portable bag inside the cloak, I sighed in relief.
Taking a look at my surroundings, there was a varying demographic. Young and old. Men and women. But they all flowed seamlessly through the paths, and even though their attention was concentrated on those portable devices… they seemed to know where they were going.
“Move it bud.”
There were so many of us that we had to keep moving or else be an obstruction. I followed the crowd walking, from one area of the place to another. It was quite vast, our carrier had been very big but this place seemed to stretch on for miles and miles.
I blinked.
Wait.
Year 2019.
That was… more than a century ago.
And sky.
Planet Earth.
The Quantum Delver was a… time travelling device!
If that was the case, I took a whiff of the air. And then I broke into a hacking and coughing fit. Something else besides oxygen filled in my lungs. Those weird metal vehicles seemed to be the cause. What kind of engine were they using? They could use hydraulic or solar powered engines.
“Assistant will filter oxygen for user.”
“Thanks!”
Some of the people closeby, gave me odd looks before muttering something about Ziri? It seems that only I was able to comprehend or notice the helper AI in my suit? It was probably a function that recently started once I activated the Quantum Delver.
'Save humanity…'
Alexia… she knew what the device could do. If this was a time travelling device and not simply a simulation, then this changes everything. Maybe I could really save humanity.
I need to gather information on this time period though and figure out what to do.
“Alexia...I mean Assistant, please recover reports on important data that occured during Year 2019.”
A small ding sounds and I sighed in satisfaction. Taking a look around, besides the tall structures that reached for the sky. There were smaller structures with signs written across them. Not too far away, there was a rectangular object hanging in the air. It held three orbs.
Red light emerged from the orb.
Alarm!
Instantly, I was on my feet and moving forward before anybody else. Threats were emerging and I had to get away, my combat skills were subpar. I had to survive.
Blaring emitted once again and I froze
It seemed like I was stuck in a time loop. Everything was replaying in my mind.
And then the bright white light was once again shining on my face.
But this time, no Alexia would pull me away to the launch pod.
.
.
.
“Wake up~”
A voice was calling me from someplace far away. Normally a flick of my wrist would have the alarm going away but instead a giggling would be the reply and the comforting darkness shook.
“Wake up dum dum!”
In usual instances, I don't even have to be forced to wake up. Our sleeping pods ensured that our environment maximised the sleeping efficiency of us humans.
Letting out a groan, I blinked and opened my eyes. There was something hovering on my face. Let it not be a larvae of the Chroakian scum. I flung my hands out and it flew away.
“This space fellow here has the guts to be mean to its savior.”
Space fellow?
“How'd you...”
I held my breath. There was a strange humanoid like creature in front of me. It was a small thing, and if I captured it… it would probably fit inside my hands.
“Don't think of touching me with your grubby hands.”
She… it was a feminine voice, she bared her teeth at me. It reminded me of the hellish hound like creatures we had encountered in Planet X7Q.
“Sorry… it's just…”
“Tough life, eh? Being sent across space and time, and then dying on your mission? Hah! It made me laugh, you miserable fool.”
“How do you know that?”
It was one thing to be called a fool… but this being knew a lot. And if she was calling herself a savior, then it meant that she saved me from one of those mechanical vehicles.
“Let's just say that I was passing by that rotting planet when suddenly you pop out into existence! Sylphs be surprised! You humans with your inventions, well it can't be helped with your short lives.”
“Thank you?”
“Eh, it wasn't a compliment, buffoon.”
“I meant, thank you for saving me.”
The creature waved a tiny hand at me, but its wings were fluttering at a quicker pace. It was kind of… cute?
“It was nothing. Thought it'd be interesting to have a space dweller in this world.”
This world?
Finally taking notice of our environment, it seemed not too different from earth. Except the air seemed to be fresher, the sky was bluer and everything seemed to be even vaster than what I could have imagined. Looming mounds of soil… mountains? Hills. Hills seemed to be never ending, green and lush.
My throat seemed to dry.
“Where are we?”
My hands clambered for the Quantum Delver, it was inside the cloak… but I wasn't even wearing the cloak anymore! Instead, it seemed to have transformed to be some loose fitting trousers and a shirt. An ornament hung around my neck… a smaller version of the cube.
“Why not find out for yourself, young traveller?”