It had been a month since their initial arrival at this underground community and Eimose had learned how to say every curse in the Medhish language.
Unbeknownst to him a month prior, there was more than one spoken language on the planet, just another fact Greenhouse had failed to divulge. He’d been brainwashed to believe that Greenhouse had complete control over all cities and economies, therefore mandated a universal language that everyone speaks. However, as it turned out, Greenhouse wasn’t omnipotent and there were still civilizations that retained their native languages, living on in hidden, undisclosed locations like the one he was currently in. From what he could gather from the very little conversation spoken in Enozish (the language he’d believed was the universal constant), the communities very rarely contacted each other and never revealed where their settlement was in case the other communities position was compromised and people were interrogated.
Eimose inspected the weapon he was holding and set it down on the table to grab cleaning supplies. The training area had scarcely a few people in it at the moment as mandatory training was over and people were allowed to do whatever they wanted. Well, except for him and Regal who was stuck within eyeshot of the officer running the cage. Clearly, a month under supervision wasn’t enough and they were still under suspicion of running away or killing people, or whatever those who were higher-up believed they would do. Eimose wished he could at least go to the bathroom without an escort. He checked out the cleaning kit and sat down at the table, disassembling the gun with expert efficiency.
For the first week, he and Regal had run around cleaning up empty shells deposited by the weapons, and then thoroughly cleaned every weapon in the cage. The Colonel must have had a change of heart or seen how diligently they were doing their mindnumbing tasks that he allowed them to observe in training, and then participate.
Basic weapons training was a breeze for Eimose as he’d always had excellent marksmanship during his own training as a Scout. Hand-to-hand combat had always proved to be trying, but he wasn’t allowed to practice with anyone here because of his unfair disadvantage. Though his skills were lacking, his newly crystalized arm was completely impenetrable (a discovery revealed when the Colonel had abruptly shot Eimose in the middle of a combat session) and only resulted in bloody knuckles since he’d use it to block anything. Instead, he’d just watch the different match-ups and hope he could visually learn something new. If Terra were here this wouldn’t have been a problem.
His stomach twisted when he thought about her. He’d only seen her in passing glances since her excommunication to the cafeteria. The only evidence he’d had of her sleeping in the same room as he were that her bedsheets were crumpled differently every day. She always got back when he was already asleep and left before he arose. Regal had once made a passing remark that she looked like she was on the very of passing out or killing someone, and Eimose had been worried for her sake since. Because of his escorted trips the bathroom he hadn’t had gotten a chance to talk to her for an extended period of time and figure out what was going through her head.
Alter’s face popped into his frame of vision, nearly making him drop the trigger he’d been cleaning. Despite his obvious acknowledgment of her, he tried ignoring the girl.
“Awww, don’t be like that. You know you’re my favorite, right? That’s why I gave you that gift.” Alter pointed to his left arm.
Eimose continued to ignore her, hoping the annoying child would leave of her own volition. He’d only seen her in his dreams at first, but over the past two weeks, he’d been seeing her in reality. At first, he’d spotted her out of the corner of his eye during target practice but he’d chalked it up to a loose shell from his neighbor’s gun. The second time he saw her was when the Colonel was giving everyone commands and she’d stuck a finger in the man’s eyeball. Eimose had almost fainted from surprise, but when the Colonel kept talking without a break, Eimose realized that it was all in his mind. He was going insane and for some reason, this girl was the cause of it all. Yet another reason to need Terra’s interference.
“Stop ignoring me, I’m bored. I don’t like Terra and I know you can see me.” She poked his cheek, though he couldn’t feel anything. “Come on, you know you need to talk to someone about that arm.”
He continued to clean his gun.
“I’m surprised you already got used to it. Usually, it takes much longer for someone to get acclimated to their new center of gravity. Plus it looks like you’ve got complete control over it, sometimes it can get a little out of hand. Get it? Out of hand? Because it’s---nevermind.” She paused to observe Eimose cleaning the barrel. “Did you think about what I said?”
Eimose paused for a moment as he contemplated responding to this figment of his imagination.
“You are not real. You don’t have any power over me. You can’t tell me what to do.” He calmly stated and continued cleaning his weapon. He could see Alter crack a smile and it made him uncomfortable; nothing he said was remotely funny.
“Do you remember who the creator of the Hydrogen bomb was?” Alter asked him.
He didn’t respond, though he knew the answer. Cecile Tontine, a Greenhouse chemist who had accidentally discovered the destructive powers of the first element. The discovery wasn’t made public until Greenhouse had amassed an arsenal of Hydrogen bombs and placed them strategically around the globe. Nearly half of them had been denotated, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths, possibly millions.
“Alright, now imagine if you had to power to kill that man. Would you do it? Would you kill one man to save everyone?” She questioned. And before you start coming up with scenarios where another chemist discovers the power of hydrogen, the secret would die with Cecile. And don’t sprout that bullshit about ‘oh, but he only discovered it, he didn’t actually do anything wrong,’ alright? He’s the reason why those millions died, there’s no skirting around the issue. If we have no Cecile, people get to live. Would you kill that man if you had the chance?” Alter demanded.
He knew the answer she was looking for but didn’t want to say it out loud. If he responded to her, she’d then bring up the topic he dreaded. The topic she’d brought up when he’d seen her in his dreams for the first time. The thing was, logic was against him and his rejection of Alter’s proposal. If what she was saying was actually true...no. This girl was a figment of his imagination, nothing more.
“You know the answer.” Alter cooed in his ear.
“You are not real.” He muttered.
“Killing one person to save the world.”
“You don’t have any power over me!” He said a little louder.
“You have to kill Terra.”
“YOU CAN’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!”
His gun clattered to the floor, drawing the eyes of everyone not completely immersed in weapons practice. Eimose quickly picked up the pieces and at back down, his face burning. Less than thirty seconds later Regal made his appearance. It seemed like whenever Eimose embarrassed himself, Regal was not too far away.
“Geez, tell me how you really feel,” commented Regal. “I think Amir is our escort. What stories haven’t we told him yet? I don’t want to disappoint our biggest fan.”
True, during their month Amir had relentlessly followed them, insisting they tell him another tale of adventure. Regal had been the one to tell the majority of them as Eimose had only stumbled onto tale-worthy instances less than a few months ago, yet Amir had latched onto them both. Eimose was glad of his company, all truth be told, since the young man was one of the few that didn’t stare at his arm.
“What does Amir have anything to do with us?” Eimose asked.
Regal stared at him, puzzled. “Did you not just hear the announcement for us to go to the lower Power lab? Isn’t that why you yelled?”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Oh, um, yeah. I must have done that without realizing it.” Eimose fumbled, nervously laughing.
“Dude, something is seriously wrong with your head. Quick, make up a story, I see Amir.”
The young man burst through the doors of the training hall, his eyes gleaming from the promise of a new story gracing his ears. He stopped inches from seriously injuring himself on the table Eimose was still assembling his gun on.
“I have been requested to bring you to the lab on urgent business. Everyone else is being summoned and will convene at the lab. I was told you should drop whatever you are doing,” he looked at Eimose’s project, “and follow me.”
Eimose shrugged and draped a rag over his still disassembled weapon. If the cage gave him grief about not turning in his weapon, he’d just argue that it wasn’t his fault.
The journey to the labs wasn’t an exciting one nor was it long, but Eimose lost count of how many people were visibly startled by his walking amongst them. He wasn’t sure if it was because they weren’t expecting him, still a stranger to the community, or if it was because of his damn arm.
As they exited the elevator, Eimose already saw a significant difference in the layout of the power/lab room. There were no walls so the entire place was open. The floor seemed to vibrate slightly, the culprit a large machine to his right which he suspected was the power generator. The entire area near the machine was covered in pipes, which made Eimose curious as to how people performed maintenance. The rest of the room was in much more orderly condition, with a large 3D printer laboring away at a task, a mechanical arm welding something together, and several other machines Eimose couldn’t recognize placed near the walls, leaving the majority of the space devoid of obstacles to walk into. Near the back end of the room was a collection of tables and monitors and lab equipment organized neatly despite the number of people in the lab.
There were about thirty people in total, most huddled around tables talking about the things they had pulled up on their screens. Those that weren’t arguing about things Eimose couldn’t even understand were either welding, soldering, or inputting data that appeared on the large monitors. Eimose couldn’t make out anything from across the room this place was so large, though he doubted he would be able to make any sense of what he saw.
“Ahh, there you are!” Brit’s voice boomed from across the room, making a few people jump. To nearly everyone’s surprise, he gave Regal a hug, the boy’s feet lifting from the ground momentarily before Brit set him back down again.
“Did you get lonely without your favorite son around?” Regal asked with a sly smile.
Brit’s expression turned sour for a flash but quickly neutralized. “Don’t make me regret calling you here. Everyone else is over there. Don’t get distracted by all the screens.” He turned and strolled to where several others stood around a large table, Regal and Eimose close behind. Eimose only recognized Aitaz in the group they joined, though the faces that surrounded him became moot when he saw when they were all gathered around.
Terra’s head. Well, her robotic one. The one that he’d stubbornly held onto during his trials and then completely forgotten about. Now it sat on a small stand, wires protruding from its neck and running to nearby screens.
The people around Eimose were currently involved in a riveting conversation he couldn’t understand due to it being spoken in Medhish, but he did pick up a few curses coming from a small woman in a white jumpsuit. An older woman held up her hand and said a few words and the group quieted down as she started up a program on her screen. After a moment the monitor above the table everyone stood around changed from showing fluctuating data to a black screen. The woman spoke again but this time Eimose was able to understand what she was saying as whatever she said was immediately translated into Ezonish text.
“Pardon our rudeness for bringing you here without proper notice. My name is Doctor Achie. Our dear friend Britanomew informed us this Combatant once belonged to you. Is that correct?”
It took a moment for Eimose to realize Britanomew referred to Brit but quickly nodded. That seemed to satisfy the woman and she continued speaking.
“Where did you get this model. It is unlike the others we have previously intercepted.”
“Uh, we were in a city near a Headquarter and were attacked by it,” Eimose said, fumbling for something that didn’t sound like a blatant lie. “Terra, that girl that came in with me, was the one that took it down.”
“But why carry it with you all this time? It is quite heavy and quite a burden, I am sure it was not simple to handle during your travels. What is the reason for doing so?”
“Well, to be honest, I’m not really sure. Maybe sentimentality?” He responded, glad he didn’t have to fib again. “I think I kinda got attached to it so I just kept on holding on to it? That’s all I got. Sorry if it’s not the answer you’re looking for.”
The people around Eimose simply stared at him, looks of befuddlement crossing their faces as they read the translation. Regal raised his eyebrows while Brit just shook his head and rolled his eyes. Eimose shifted uncomfortably as silence overtook the group. Did people just not hold onto things here? Was it really that odd of a concept to these people? Should he elaborate about how a dear friend of his was trapped in that robot’s body and confess he thought he’d be able to bring her back if he found her body? Wait, no, that would bring up a lot more questions he didn’t have the answers prepared for. Was anyone going to speak up? Sweat trickled down his back as he nervously glanced from face to face, gauging whether or not he should run. Just then, Doctor Achie burst out laughing, prompting the rest to chuckle politely.
“That was not a reason we were expecting! Regardless, we are grateful as we have gained valuable information regarding the contents of your bag as well as vital information regarding our enemy. This has greatly improved our war efforts, so we are pleased. Now, onto a topic that will not make you look like you will faint. Are you satisfied working in weapons training?”
“It's...fun?” He said cautiously. What was the right answer here? “I’ve learned a lot but can’t participate in basic combat because of...you know.” Eimose lifted his arm for good measure. “It would really be helpful if Terra could be--”
“So you are not satisfied. Perfect. We would like you to report here instead of training from now on to observe that arm of yours. This month has been a trail in case you turn into a monster. You would have been quickly put down by the recruits but it is good you did not since you may be more helpful yet. As of now, you are to be considered a proper member of the UC and will be staying in the barracks with the rest. You are dismissed.” With the flick of her wrist, the screen turned back to displaying data and Eimose and Regal were practically pushed away from the huddle of very important people.
“Wait, is Terra also being transferred?” Eimose asked hopefully. Perhaps if she was also moved to the normal barracks he’d have a chance to talk to her.
The Doctor flicked her wrist again impatiently so he could read her translation.
“No. We have seen what that woman is capable of so we will keep her where she is. She is a monster. It is only a matter of time before she exposes her true nature. We only keep her here because it is best to keep a monster in a cage then let it roam free.”
When the Doctor jerked her wrist again to indicate the end of their conversation, Eimose knew if he spoke up again it may be his last time, so he remained silent. He didn’t understand why they were calling Terra such a monster but he was too much of a coward to speak up on her behalf if it threatened his own. Sure, she could rip steel apart with those monster arms of hers, but it wasn’t as if that defined her.
“That was a productive meeting. Why did they even call me too?” Regal chimed up as he guided Eimose back to the elevator. “Hold on, does that mean I’m going to be sleeping alone with Terra? Yes!”
Eimose’s head snapped up and he almost punched Regal but Brit rushed in and intercepted.
“No, you’re going to be in the regular dorms too. Terra’s still assigned to the room and will remain under observation until we figure out what to do with her. Before you say anything, I also believe its a waste to not use her skills, but we’re not the ones in charge here. Just forget about her and move on for all of our sakes.”
Brit remained in the lab while Regal and Eimose loaded onto the elevator. Amir scared the hell out of them both when it had turned out that he’d been waiting for them in the compartment the entire time. Eimose was in no mood to entertain the man so he let Regal take the reins to their ride back up to the training area to gather the little number of things they had and relocate.
It frustrated Eimose to no end that Brit had just told him to ‘forget her and move on.’ And why did the man assume he was upset because Terra wasn’t being used as a weapon properly? She wasn’t a fucking weapon or a fucking monster! She was that robot huddled in fear at the thought of being underwater. She was that robot that had kicked the asses of Brit and Regal and Jer ages ago. She was just a girl trying to figure out who the hell she was.
Eimose wasn’t sure why he felt protective of her, possibly because it was because of him that things had changed so drastically for her, but she was his responsibility now. To hell with this place.
In the corner of the elevator Alter suddenly materialized, wearing her typical grin.
To hell with her too! He was going to get Terra out of here no matter what. Fuck his previous promises to that old man. Fuck everyone else and their hidden agendas. Fuck Alter and Greenhouse and the bullshit.
With his resolve steeled, he entered the training room a plan whirling in his mind. The cage was closed, which meant that they’d already taken inventory and there would be no more weapon exchanges for the rest of the day. The training hall was completely empty except for the three men.
As Regal hurried to their sleeping quarters in the hall, Eimose dragged his feet, stealthily making sure Amir left before rushing over to the table he’d been cleaning his weapon. He lifted the rag and sure enough, the disassembled gun was still there. He smiled and quickly put it back together, tucking it into his shoe and covering it up with the excess material of his jumpsuit.
He was going to set Terra free.