Darkness was all that he could see at first. Then, with a couple of blinks, light began to return to the world even as the room echoed with the sound of distant thunder; the ringing of a profane violence. As sight and sound returned, so did feeling, and pain. He let out a groan, raising a shaky hand to his head. With his senses returned, he attempted to make sense of his memories, and his surroundings.
He realized with throbbing sense of pain that his right leg was pinned beneath a chunk of table and part of the room. Crushed pieces of paper and broken tablets finally triggered the memories of what had just happened.
They’d all gathered in the conference room, serious faces all down the table as Lee, the Head of Research, announced his findings and results. This had been it, the final meeting. It had begun first with a global report from Anslie.
***
“The Euro Union finally fell earlier this week,” she’d reported, flipping through familiar pictures of devastation in unfamiliar places even as her stoic façade trembled. “We couldn’t get word faster because of the blockade around the eastern lines.”
“Dammit,” a large man slammed his fist into the table, knuckles white from the force he exerted. “I told you we should have been there! The third division-”
“Wouldn’t have made a difference Third Division Head,” Anslie shook her head, biting her lips. “They pulled an amphibious blitz from the North Sea to distract the North Guard, while their main forces tunneled in from the Channel Tunnel.”
“How?” a fiery older woman asked with folded arms and a grimace. “When the isles fell, wasn’t the tunnel blasted and mined?”
“From, from what we can tell Second Division Head,” Anslie answered with a shaky breath, “the enemy repaired the Channel Tunnel as far as they could before branching off to connect to the old understructure no longer in use: gas lines, internet cables, and so on. They breeched the mainland and formed their recharge stations and factories secretly before launching a rear assault. The fall happened quickly over several days.”
“No word from your brother?” Sue sighed. Anslie’s only answer was a sniffle. The room was filled with a moment of silence for their lost human brothers and sisters over the ocean.
“So, what’s the enemy movements?” a voice at the head of the table called, a serious man with a scar across his nose that only enhanced his handsome looks.
“Yes,” Anslie recovered and pushed glasses up her nose. “We received word from our sister group in the south. Their gorilla tactics using the jungle have turned the fighting into a stalemate as they take out the closest recharge stations and factories. They haven’t heard anything from the Sino-Pacific Alliance either- it’s estimated the survivors have finally perished.”
“Hard-nosed bastards,” an old man with a cane across his lap shook his head with a sigh. “They survived so long after getting hit first.”
“Didn’t you lose your leg in the war against them First Division Head Gene?” the Third Division Head asked snidely.
“A good enemy makes for a good ally in times of desperation,” Gene answered smoothly. “And a warrior should have respect for his peers no matter what side they’re on so long as they are honorable. Something you still have yet to fully learn, Correy.”
“Fat load honor does for us in this fight,” Correy growled.
“What of the African Group?” the lead figure spoke up once more, silencing the table once more.
“Starting to fall back to their last line of defense,” Anslie shook her head. “They were barely able to maintain a status quo thanks to the rainy season, but the anticipation of enemy reinforcements from the Euro battlefield has forced them to regroup. They’ve begun evacuating civilians to the southern group, but the enemy’s oceanic interceptors are making it difficult.”
“Correy,” the man at the top of the table turned his attention to the muscular younger man. “Order your third platoon to prepare to aid the evacuation. We need to save as many as we can, especially those that can fight.”
“Leave the weak behind, got it boss,” Correy grinned savagely.
“Dammit Correy, that’s not what he means!” the Second Division Head growled and stood up abruptly.
“That’s exactly what he means Sue!” Correy shouted back, matching her stance. “This isn’t the time to waste resources on the weak and dying! We need all the fighting manpower and sources for the next generation as we can get!”
“I also disagree,” Gene said coldly. “If we only rescue the young, then the culture remembered only by the old will be lost. We will dimmish over generations.”
“Enough,” the man called out over them. “It is not up to us to choose who will be rescued. That is the choice and responsibility of their leaders. Third platoon is only responsible for defensive support, not logistics or governance.”
“Yes sir,” Gene, Sue, and Correy answered in unison, taking their seats once again. The various aids and staffers around the room murmured quietly.
“I turn the floor over to Professor Lee now,” Anslie announced, taking her seat.
The professor had stood up then. He was an aging man of mixed European and Asian descent, and he moved with a bearing of confidence and resolve. “Greetings leader, Platoon 1 head Gene, Platoon 2 head Sue, Platoon 3 head Correy, Communications Head Anslie, . . .” he greeted everyone around the table. “I’m here to report progress in the lab. The primary objective was found to be, possible.”
“But?” the leader asked.
“As you all know,” Professor Lee explained. “The research within metaphysics, temporal physics, and quantum physics is not fully understood, let alone the interaction between the three fields. The loss of semi-conductor production with the fall of Taiwan has only recently been overcome thanks to the finishing of local production facilities, allowing the super-computers and quantum computers network to be completed.”
“Time is of the essence professor,” the leader spoke up suddenly. “A summary, if you please.”
“Very well,” Professor Lee answered, pushing his glassed up. “Due our efforts, we successfully managed to send structured wavelengths into our sealed rooms by relying on temporal reversal. For those of you who fail to understand this,” he gave a pointed look at Correy, who returned the look with a snarl, “we were able to send a brainwave, a thought, into a sealed room in the past.”
“Even for these days, that sounds like a load of sci-fi crap,” Sue pointed out.
“Indeed,” Professor Lee surprisingly agreed with her assessment. “It took us several repeat tries to ensure we weren’t fooling ourselves. However, we can confirm the success of the thought being sent into both the volunteer brain and the quantum brain. However, therein lies the issue.” At this, the professor frowned. “While the quantum brain was able to understand and process the thought, the volunteer brain treated the foreign thought like an intruder. Subsequently, it passed away rather violently, similar to an auto-immune disease.”
“Was it the thought?” the leader asked with narrowed eyes.
“Not at all,” Professor Lee said. “Rather, it was the thought itself. We sent back a neural wave structured to invoke the thought ‘Hello’ rather than a command. However, it would appear that the brain treats thoughts of any kind as commands, and thus foreign thoughts are confronted with immune system responses as the neurons act differently from the brain’s control.”
“So only the quantum brain worked?” the leader confirmed.
“For the experiment, yes,” the professor agreed. “However, given the time we intend to aim for, we’ve also managed to, as you say, ‘zip’ brainwaves that allow for simpler hardware to process over time. Experimentally, we’ve also finished the device that can scan a human mind and turn it into data.”
“All of this is moot if we cannot send it to a brain,” Gene frowned. “Surely you do not intend for a machine, a merely copy of a human mind, to undertake this task. Given our enemy, that would surely doom us all.”
“As you say,” the professor acknowledged, “our experiments only yesterday confirmed the issue with the brain. We can only send the structured temporal waves to brains with a certain level of neural plasticity- a property of the brain usually lost after childhood development that allows one’s nerve cells to take on the properties of missing nerve cells. It is, for example, what allows some young children with severe brain trauma to grow up normal as the missing parts of their brain are ‘regrown’ in other sections. A brain with enough neural plasticity and developed enough to retain information would be able to handle the waves in a ‘zipped’ format. Before coming here, my team analyzed everyone’s medical history and familial history to determine potential candidates.” The professor took a moment to allow for a dramatic pause. “Leader, it would appear you are the best candidate to send back and save humanity.”
The room instantly filled with the shocked and excited chattering of people.
“Silence!” the leader shouted, instantly calming the room. He looked back up at the professor. “Am I truly the best option?”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Leader,” Lee said with the utmost seriousness. “You are the best option out of all of us. Not only do you meet all the physical requirements, but your personality, drive, and determination are what allowed all of us to survive to this day.”
“He’s right,” Correy agreed with a nod. “You pulled me and my gang off the streets when we were in over our heads and turned us into proper soldiers.”
“My brother, my family and I owe you a great debt as well,” Anslie followed up. “We and many others here wouldn’t have been able to survive that day without your leadership.” Gene and Sue both nodded their heads in agreement.
“You’re the one who put yourself in harm’s way to get the tech we needed,” Professor Lee bowed respectfully. “If it were anyone else, I would think them superhuman. Sending you back, no one would have any doubt of success.”
The leader thrummed the table and sighed. “Will doing this affect me in the here and now?”
“No,” the professor shook his head, “and to be honest, we have not been able to determine what sending you back would do: a paradox, a time loop, an alternate timeline, and so on. We can safely say, however, that if the act of sending you back doesn’t end the universe, then you’ll still be in perfect health to lead us in the fight. Given the complexity involved however, we’ll only be able to do this once with the materials and tech on base.”
“Then we need to make it count,” the leader said. “Professor, continue experimenting until the process is as seamless as you can make it. I understand you and your team could manage it now, but we must take no chances with this.”
“Yes sir,” Professor Lee nodded, turning and leaving the room.
“Good, now-”
And that was when the room had exploded.
***
As he tried to make sense of it all, the sounds of battle finally rang out in his ear.
“Dammit! Dammit! Why, why why?!” he heard the angry sobs of the Third Platoon Head from somewhere. He turned to look.
The large conference room was demolished, a large hole in the ceiling indicating a guided missile. It had to have been, given the base’s deep underground location. Bodies and gore lay all around, intermixed with groaning and crying. The Third Platoon Head was kneeling, cradling a broken body, with the impaled corpse of First Platoon Head on the wall behind them. The older man’s twitching body, and grey-red ichor for blood indicated what had happened to him; a deep-sleep machinated activation upon certain information being heard. The Third Platoon Head was in his personal mecha suit, likely having activated it by reflex just before the blast. It must have been sheer luck he’d chosen to set the suit to auto-equip today, as no one else seemingly had had the time to activate theirs. The Second Platoon Head was splattered across the floor.
He, me, I let out a groan and forced myself to sit up to get a better look. My heart sank as I realized the broken body cradled in third platoon head’s arms was the leader. With a sudden burst of strength coming from grief, I pushed the debris off my leg and hobbled and crawled over to third platoon head. I sucked in my sobs as I passed Anslie’s decapitated head.
He noticed me as I approached and gave me the most grief-filled look I’d ever seen, “Why did a bastard like you survive instead of him?”
I bit down the reflex to answer. “Sir, the base is under attack. You’re in charge now.”
“Shut up.”
“Sir, give us orders,” I did my best to ignore his attitude. “The enemy is here.”
“There’s nothing left!” Correy screamed at me, clenching the leader’s body to his chest. “Leader is dead! He was the best of us, and the savior! Bastards like you, and me, aren’t worth it. We deserve it. . .” he broke off and sobbed again.
“Come in, come in!” I heard over the communicator in my ear. Third Platoon Head must have also heard it as it was an open call, but didn’t react. I activated my communicator to respond.
“This, this is vice-head Tully of Comms,” I replied. “What is it?”
“Tully? My god, you survived!” came the voice of Professor Lee. “A miracle, simply a miracle! The tunnel collapsed behind me, what is the situation?”
“Besides Third Platoon Head Correy, no one else made it,” I reported bluntly. “Leader is gone.”
The professor didn’t say anything for a few moments. “I see,” he said simply. “We have suffered a great loss. As you may have surmised, the base is under attack. The vice heads are handling things as best they can, but the enemy is clearly targeting the research lab and cannot be stopped. I need you to go there at once!”
“Sir, my leg is broken I think,” I answered sadly. “I can control comms from here, but I do not believe-”
“YOU MUST!” the professor shouted. “You are the only other one we can use besides the leader!”
“What?” I choked, not noticing that the Third Platoon Head had finally stopped sobbing.
“You were the other match for our prerequisites,” the professor insisted. “If the leader is gone, then we can only send you. You must make it to the lab, it is our only chance!”
“I can’t-” I try to say.
“I’ve got him,” came the sudden answer from third platoon head Correy, who picked me up and hoisted my arm over his shoulder. “Third Platoon Head, on my way down.” I’d never seen his face more serious or calm; it was an unnerving sight. As we quickly left the room, Correy didn’t forget to toss an inferno grenade into the room, setting everything alight to ensure any active mechanites didn’t have a chance to reuse the bodies of the fallen. “Rest in peace,” Correy muttered as he began running with me over his shoulder.
As we made it down the tunnel toward the stairwell, a body burst in from one of the upper floors. It was another personal mecha, though of far sleeker and thin design; codename MechaElf. Rare as they were and hard to produce, it meant the enemy was deadly serious in this raid.
Correy’s mech-covered arm erupted into a custom chainsaw that slammed into the body of the enemy mecha before it could react, severing it clean in half. The destruction revealed its insides, a hideous plant growth intermixed with fleshy nerves. Before the MechaElf could regenerate, a flamethrower shot finished it off.
“Bastards,” Correy growled. “Did Gene tell them we were low on fuel for the flamethrowers? How much information did that damn old man feed them? How long ago was he taken?”
“Does it matter? I yelled at Correy, having yanked my emergency mask over my head at the first appearance of the MechaElf. “They clearly know enough! And watch it with that damn chainsaw!”
“Don’t tell me how to fight, suit!” Corely shouted back, now running down the stairs with his arm in rapid-fire mode, shooting up the stairwell at the new hostiles following us. “Dammit, where are the boys and why aren’t they holding the stairs?” Another MechaElf let out a shriek as an incendiary bullet caused it to explode into flames. “Frickin hell, not only do they have Russian cybernetics but also southern plant tech. Those space bastards keep sending others to do their dirty work!”
Finally, we had reached the research floor. Correy, for good measure, through out an inferno grenade and several explosives before shutting the door. The ‘boom’ that followed signaled the closing of that route into the floor.
“You hurt?” Correy asked as he continued to run.
“Just a few burns and the leg,” I answered through gritted teeth. “And the ear canal damage from being next to your piss-poor shooting.”
“Now you have time to bark huh?” Correy gloated. “I thought suits like you were above basic insults like that?”
“Trying times call for simpler ways of doing things,” I shot back. “I need you fighting, not trying to understand insults. You’re bad enough without spending the extra brain power.”
Correy only laughed arrogantly as he made his way into the lab. Professor Lee and the other scientists were waiting for us.
“Good, you made it,” the professor said in relief. “My fellows and I have prepared the machine. Correy, set him down here in the pod.”
“Got it prof,” he said as he man-handled my injured body into the body. I flipped him off at the rough treatment, to which he shrugged. It was hard to be precise in a personal mecha suit after all. Two of the other scientists fitted a headgear over my head and closed the pod. When the seal shut, a loud hiss restored my ability to hear outside the pod.
“Tully,” Professor Lee called out. “We’re beginning the mind scan. You will feel some intense discomfort, now.”
Before I could be given a chance to react, I felt a horrible itching and throbbing across my body. The pod restrained my actions, so the best I could was scratch what I could reach. It seemed to last for a while, but I couldn’t be sure. “Little bit, more, warning professor,” I stammered out.
“We’ve connected,” he answered, glossing over my complaint, “good. The machine will continue to scan you while you’re in the pod so as to better graph your mind. Now-”
A vibration rocked the lab, knocking most of the scientists to their knees. I watched Correy reload and run over to the entrance, where he took up a firing position. “They’re coming!” he shouted.
“Time, ha, time is the problem,” Professor Lee muttered and bit his lip, looking worried. “We need more time to finish the scan, and send the compressed wave.”
With an audible hum, the lights in the lab weakened suddenly.
“Sir, we’re losing connection the base’s main power grid,” one of the scientists reported urgently. “The enemy is attempting to disrupt us. Emergency power is ready to kick in upon full lose, but it won’t last long.”
“Then we change the plan,” Lee said decisively. “Extend the destination farther back and remove the mental connection. Change the wave to hardware recipient only!”
“Sir, but that-”
“I know!” the professor shouted back. “We risk losing the empathic ability that defines humanity but there is no more time! Keep the mind scanner on for as long as possible.” He turned to look at me. “Tully, focus and think as best you can on humanity’s greatest virtues! Companionship, comradery, charity, kindness; you must allow the machine time to digitize them.”
“Thinking all the nice things as best I can prof!” I answer, feeling a bit silly despite the seriousness of the situation. “Want me to think about the power of friendship while I’m at it?”
“If silly children cartoons do it for you, then fine!”
‘Ouch, that one kind of hurt.’
A second vibration rocked the room, this time including the sound of an explosion in the distance. Third platoon head suddenly began to open fire down the hall, shouting and cursing at the unseen enemy. The professor and several other scientists also pulled out guns and joined the head at the door, doing their best to provide fire support when the head needed to reload. Watching them, I couldn’t help but bit my lip hard enough that it began to bleed. I wanted to be with them fighting- but even before my broken leg my asthma and weak body kept me from the battlefield. I couldn’t help but me envious of those who fought, those who forged bonds on the battlefield. The leader was everything I inspired to be: strong, smart, dedicated- a true leader in every way. I didn’t want to be trapped inside anymore; I wanted to fight for humanity alongside my fellows!
A sudden beeping broke my train of thought, and reminded me of the situation. A cold realization occurred to me; had the machine read my envy and desire just now? I tried to focus on friendship and other kinds of empathy, but my mind was all jumbled up now. I wasn’t sure what the machine had gathered even as a fiery explosion blew the defenders at the door back in. I wasn’t sure what it was reading as bursts of gunfire and lasers peppered into the room, striking down the defenseless scientists. I didn’t know what to think as third platoon head Correy went all out, opening every weapon on his personal mechasuit as he charged headfirst into the coming horde. I stopped thinking as he was finally brought down by the seemingly endless wave, his body covered even in death by the falling bodies of the enemy. I watched as Professor Lee forced his bleeding body to a control panel, giving me a kind smile even as bullets slammed into his back, his hand still managing to input a command through sheer will as he died. One of the remaining scientists yelled out a distracting, as another slammed his hand onto what I could only assume to be the big red button.
I felt a surge of energy come over my body, feeling as if my very soul was being sucked away. And then it was over. The enemy poured into the room, bringing with them a corruptor to hook up to the machinery. Though my arms couldn’t be raised in the pod, I still flipped them all off with a smile through the tears, my eyes locked onto the single disguised sensor above the doorway. It only had one job, and a single deadman’s switch attached.
In seemingly slow motion, the floor erupted upward in a fiery explosion, bursting forth like a volcano and erasing everything in a bright, white light. I continued to smile and cry even as the white enveloped the pod, and then me, and then nothingness.
All that remained, was hope.