CHAPTER 1
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Buzzz, buzz, buzz, the silver quantum watch on Corin’s wrist went off attempting to notify him that there was something that required his attention. Groggily, Corin began to stir due to the incessant buzzing. Slowly coming back to reality he managed to mumble out “why am I on the floor” with something that could roughly be described as words. There was no answer to his question though that was not all that surprising with his apartment being devoid of all life other than his own.
Deciding that it had been buzzing long enough without a response from its wearer the quantum watch let out a zap of electricity. With a yelp Corin jumped to his feet, he then proceeded to fall back down on his face, nearly landing in a pile of assorted electrical components, otherwise known as a pile of junk.
His apartment wasn’t the cleanest of apartments. Most people would probably call it a disaster zone and not fit for human habitation though there was one square area in the corner with a shining metal cabinet about six and a half feet tall, just large enough to fit a person inside, that was completely clean without any junk in the immediate area around it. It was also directly behind where Corin lay with his feet nearly touching the cabinet itself. The rest of the apartment was taken up by differing piles of clothing, electronic components, and what could have, at one point, been food though it wasn’t really possible to tell at this point. Listening closely a high pitched whine could be heard coming from the watch and it was rapidly getting higher.
“I’m up! I’m up!” Corin cried, once more jumping to his feet, this time he managed to stay on his feet and not crash back to the dirty synth-wood flooring of his apartment though he still stumbles around a little. “Answer call”
A small transparent head appeared above the watch. The head had a balding head of hair and had far too much fat for it to be good for the owner. It wasn’t really possible to tell the actual colors of the face as it was all washed out from being projected into the air through what little hair he did have would have been the color of dirt. The rest of the man wasn’t much better though he somehow managed to have plenty of friends in the military, and lots of money.
“Cor, good of you to finally bother picking up. Listen I have..”
“If you're going to call me on one of my days off you should at least cut to the chase Tom” Corin interrupted the floating head.
A displeased frown appeared on the floating face of Tom “Fine, I’ll keep it quick then. You need to get down here and pilot your mech for a display of its current prowess. The military wants a demonstration of its current capabilities. It’s not like you have anything better to do with your day anyway.”
“I’m not a pilot Tom,” Corin responded a slight frown appearing as he rubbed his face with his other hand “And we agreed that if I built the mech for your people they would handle the military.”
“It’s not my fault that the mech is so complicated that the military pilots can’t pilot it yet.” Tom replied calmly “Besides you’re the current holder of all the baseline statistics. I’ll even double the private research fund that was given to you.”
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A conflicted look appeared on Corin’s face. Taking a look back at the cabinet sitting in the only clean corner of the apartment and staring at it for several seconds, the slight steam still venting off of it the only clue it had been used recently, a waterfall of thoughts crashed through his head. He had just finished one of the experiments and the extra money would help a lot with the overhaul of the equipment and his research fund was running low which was probably the reason for Tom even suggesting the massive increase in funds. If the mech project proved itself to the military Tom and his group would be swimming in mountains of money anyway so throwing a few million more at a ‘dead end’ project would be acceptable losses. Letting out a sigh Corin looked back at Tom’s floating face.
“Great,” Tom’s face threatened to rip itself in half with how wide the smile on it was “I’ll send a shuttle to get you. It will be there in 20 minutes.”
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Twenty minutes later, on the dot, a sleek black suttle roared down from the sky. Steam whispering off of it in the shimmering clear blue sky of the city. Before the shuttle had even stopped, or gotten to the ground for that matter, two doors opened on either side disgorging ten marines each in full-body exo-suits.
Corin smiled slightly at the overkill of his transport, it would probably be much safer if it had been discrete and hidden instead of this fanfare. As he was expected to do, Corin waited inside his building for the marines to come to him. Once they did he would be escorted to the shuttle where they would leave the city.
The two expected marines started making their way towards the entrance of the building when several booms echoed through the city. Looking into the sky Corin could see tears in the blue sky revealing the storm of twisting black clouds, the true sky of their world. The shattering of glass brought his focus back to his immediate area. The marines had broken through the glass front of the building not even using the door. One of the marines grabbed him and threw him over their shoulder before starting their sprint back to the shuttle.
After the two escorts had entered the shuttle the remaining eight quickly entered in. The whole process taking less than ten seconds. As the last marines armored boots entered the shuttle the engines ignited going from a standstill to full acceleration in less than a second. Corin passed out immediately with the sudden acceleration.
The clear blue sky that had once covered the city slowly disintegrated as though it was simply a piece of painted glass that had been shattered to reveal the truth. Within the city a hazardous apartment suddenly came to life, the lights turning on and the unmistakable hum of electricity flowing through it.
“Synthetic attack detected… Analyzing.
Probability of successful defense… Negligible.
Initiate self destruct” A mechanical voice echoed out from the apartment. Shortly after it finished speaking the building that Corin had once been standing in enjoying the artificial sky and waiting for his ride collapsed into a pile of debris and corpses.
The shuttle that was speeding through the air attempting to break out of the city was hit by a bolt of red light. A hole no bigger than a quarter was torn out of the engines at the back of the shuttle. The shuttle’s engines sputter and died leaving the shuttle at the mercy of gravity, which took hold ruthlessly and smashed it into the ground.
Vomiting out a mouthful of blood Corin was shocked awake by the crash of the shuttle. His watch sputtering out emergency alerts. A small hologram of his body in a T-pose was hovering above the watch. Most of it was bright red with several alert messages. It didn’t really matter to Corin, he could no longer read the text on the holo-screen anyway. Well, the rest of the world was slowly joining in with the words and fading out of focus.
SYSTEM INITIALIZING...
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