The boxing lesson went incredibly badly as the coach just could not get his head round the thought that he wanted to get hit. The footwork was useful, the body evasion drills productive but no matter how much he nagged he just kept getting told he was not ready to spar. Eventually dismissed from the gym he wondered how he was going to get beaten up. Eventually filing that problem away he went to his next scheduled activity which was attending the science facility for whatever experiments they wanted to run on him today.
When he attended the science facility his squad was there. Apparently they were going to discuss power choice again and the mathematicians who had played upgrade top trumps with him were going to be along for the ride. They took him to what looked like an interview room and he sat down behind a desk with the two mathematicians and a few others whilst he had some serious déjà vu about staff interviews in his past. The base commander Colonel Faulkner did a round of introductions mainly it seemed to pad the ego’s of the Ministry of defences four representatives. They were here to shape the course of the experiment by providing help and support to those brave volunteers blah blah blah.
The idea was going to be a core of abilities for each person with tactics being built around that core set and other cores being complimentary. This was akin to current SCAR doctrine where each was taken to a basic standard of soldiering proficiency and then individual tactics and doctrines developed in unit. At this time the core set each squad member would have were strength, health, sensory augmentation, endurance, fast reactions and healing which it was hoped would mean soldiers with better situational awareness, able to fight longer, harder and recover quicker. Private Oxbridge had already assigned the first three of those to each squad member and would include endurance, fast reactions and healing in each package. This sounded reasonable so Morgan kept his reservations to himself about dictating what people got, he had said whatever they asked for and he meant it.
The format was going to be an examination of the personnel file of each followed by discussion with the candidate and then a further discussion which would be forwarded in writing to each candidate. Musing about it whilst the sound washed over him Morgan could think of no finer a waste of time and assumed it was done to keep the MOD reps away from actual work. He would resent the waste of time but if the Colonel had not fobbed somebody else off with this then he was not going to be able to escape.
The first file was Isaac Williams, Barely 17 years old with fairly average scores for physicality and mental aptitude. Apprenticed as a plumber until Special abilities showed up, levitation. Signed up voluntarily with rider that he be assigned to trade school and finishes training as a plumber.
Isaac looked nervous when he was shown in and despite his youth was wise enough to ignore the “were all friends, just relax and tell us what you think” speech by the grey suit from the MOD. Isaac stuttered through his decisions. Rather than trying to get him to coherently sum it up Colonel Faulkner took mercy and summarised it as levitation, strength, health, sensory augmentation, endurance, fast reactions, healing and speed inquiring since he had rejected the option of camouflage did he really think running was braver than hiding? After some stammering he was dismissed and the choices were approved on a quick show of hands.
Next came Arthur Simmons with a remarkably empty CV. Mid twenties no ties, no employment record, no assets to his name. Had been working as casual labour in a park renovation when set fire to a van in a brawl. Given a choice between SCAR and prison had volunteered to sign up. Morgan gave a wry grin at the personnel reports describing him as difficult. Squad whiner and skiver was the words he would have used.
As soon as Arthur was given a chance to speak he complained about not having enough options for a current optimal build and not enough time to plan. Eventually the Colonel intimidated him into compliance. His eventual revealed list was Stream of fire, strength, health, sensory augmentation, endurance, fast reactions, healing, longevity, memory, ballistic accuracy, Storage pockets, Force shield, Water blast and Acid control. Longevity and memory was apparently so he could outlive the people he hated and remember in detail why he hated them. Ballistic accuracy was so he could be a dead shot but Morgan suspected he just didn’t want to put the time in at the range. Storage so his kit was easier to carry, Water and acid so he could hose people down in acid. He was dismissed without any further word and Colonel Faulkner observed that keeping some people under discipline was a service in itself.
Next up was Ronnie Hargreaves an accomplished accountant who was on the fast track to seniority in forensic investigation when his pregnant wife dumped him for the Gym Instructor saying that at least his child could be raised by a real man. Apparently in an urge to show how macho he was joined the army and is slated to show his macho qualities by being posted to the army accounting core. Personnel note that he may be regretting impulsive decisions but seems to be trying to suppress regret.
Ronnie came in and actually pulled out a notebook with a long list of options next to pros and cons which he discussed in detail. Only the MOD people were functional by the end of his talk but he summarised it as Combust objects LOS, strength, health, sensory augmentation, endurance, fast reactions, healing, Lightning Calculations, photographic memory, longevity, Storage pockets, stealth, camouflage, Earth manipulation, Water and air manipulation. Calculation and memory were clearly for accounting but just wanting him out of the room he was dismissed by the Colonel and his choices were also hand waved through.
Harvey Smith was a young man employed to field complaints in a call centre with a strong family and social set of ties. Particular note was made of his Fiancée a fitness instructor and model from Singapore with whom he had several disciplinary matters on record by contacting her during training not through official channels. Note made by personnel that he should be encouraged to go down officer training due to high emotional stability combined with higher than average IQ.
Harvey Came in and gave a quick summary of his thinking. He wanted his final build to be Physical augmentation, Thermal vision, strength, health, sensory augmentation, endurance, fast reactions, healing, personal force field, Storage pockets, Longevity, Ballistic Accuracy, Spatial Awareness, Fast reactions, Location awareness, resist interrogation, speed. With the possible exception of a personal force field nothing showy. He was dismissed and whilst people seemed confused how that build would help him no actual objections were raised.
James Foxwell, the oldest recruit behind Morgan was 39 years old and fourteen weeks from being too old to join up. He had joined the army after his family had been killed in a hard landing and after completing basic been assigned to third rifles for three years until he had started to throw lightning around, He had been sent through to basic training because everyone went through basic but all the reports and evaluations all summed as this is a waste of time. The only concerning point was a few comments about excessive force from previous commanders. Whilst no formal disciplinary action was recorded it had been serious enough to enter official records.
James came in and noting the MOD guys stayed at attention the whole time. His choices were Lightning thrower, strength, health, sensory augmentation, endurance, fast reactions, healing, Camouflage, detonations and wall crawl. Apparently he had ambitions to be a sapper and was basing his choices around sneaking in explosives and putting them in odd places. Morgan raised an objection for the first time that he had no idea what detonations meant in this context, eventually it was reworded to “make normal objects explosive” and he was dismissed.
Brody Dorcastle early twenties signed up to avoid student debt associated with a media studies degree. He apparently harboured illusions about being the next big thing in media and these were focused on being part of the armies PR department at the moment. Personnel apparently struggled to say anything about him as he blended into the background and was just not noteworthy. Only one commentator pointed out this was a terrible flaw in someone who wanted to be famous.
Brody recited his choices and the first real problem came up when he said he wanted to be just like corporal Patel. His choices were Fast Mover, strength, health, sensory augmentation, endurance, fast reactions, healing, Magnetism, generate radiation, Generate force bubble. There was an uproar about why he wanted to copy someone else. Colonel Faulkner said he wanted a diverse power set to experiment with, The mathematicians claimed magnetism was just a terrible choice for synergetic reasons (they promised to explain why in a written response to be appended to the minutes) and the MOD representative for Morgans mind made the most incisive criticism. “You know young man having the same powers as Ms Patel will not make you as famous as her”. The argument was muted as Brody dare not curse out the senior people present but it was clear he was adamant. After a while he was dismissed and ordered to read the panel’s recommendations with care. Voting seeming superfluous they moved on.
Last was Harold MacAdam a Pakistani recruit from the Kashmir region. His Scottish name was a clear oddity and he usually brushed it off as a relic from the raj. Exactly thirty years old he had the most surprising background to Morgan. Orphaned at a young age and sent through multiple foster homes and institutions he eventually aged out of care and onto the streets. He started with petty crime and showing a determination and drive admirable in other circumstances had moved up the crime ladder to becoming what the media referred to as a “Crime Lord’s underboss” until his boss had been at the wrong end of a gang war. The whole criminal organisation had been poisoned and only he had survived discovering his special ability of immunity to poison in the most opportune way possible. Given a choice between life in prison and 22 years enlisted had joined up. Did not seem enamoured by the choice and the base MP’s had mentioned him in three separate reports of contraband already.
Harold Listed his eventual build as Immune to poison, strength, health, sensory augmentation, endurance, fast reactions, healing, Ballistic accuracy, Storage space and personal force field. While no comment was made to his face Colonel Faulkner commented after he left the room that the MP’s were going to love a smuggler with an extra dimensional storage space.
After that the meeting was moved to a room which had coffee and biscuits laid out. Somewhat taken aback by the lack of warning at this Morgan hung back and tried to analyze the cliques before joining one. Taking an unreasonably long time to make coffee and select biscuits he and Colonel Faulkner were soon alone. Faulkner whispered to him “this is all for the benefit of making sure you and the chaps from the ministry talk informally. I can escort you but that will annoy them, do you need me?”Also whispering while trying to find just the right rich tea biscuit among a mass of identical biscuits Morgan replied “What do they want. How badly could this go sir?”. Whispering “too late” the colonel turned and greeted the first grey suit “Robert I was just telling Private Oxbridge that he should talk to you, his is an interesting story” which leading to a smile from Robert he responded “Yes indeed one can get only so much from a file after all. Don’t want to hold you up Colonel I am sure Mr Morgan will have an interesting tale for us all but you have other duties I understand?”
Colonel Faulkner took this rather unsubtle dismissal well and with a hand wave left. Morgan thought to voice ok record this conversation. I think its going to matter. At that he turned and beamed at Robert holding his free hand out to shake. They talked for a few seconds about choosing biscuits ostensibly out of politeness but probably more to feel him out which was fine because that was a two way thing. The serious talk started when one of his colleagues who it turned out was called James joined them and the two youngest suits hung around intercepting anyone who came close. It looked practiced and organised which meant this was what they were about. He waited with his best innocent expression for them to raise whatever subject was really bothering them.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
James started by asking “So do you know the reason SCAR exists? I mean why the military gets to forcibly recruit specials on the flimsiest of reasons and nobody complains?” Deciding not to be a complete ingénue he replied “I assumed its power. If anyone gets too many specials and organises them they could be a real equaliser against tanks and guns. Rather than take that risk whilst they had the whip hand the generals integrated the threat”. Robert snorted “Fair. Obviously that’s true but I think James was asking the publicly stated reasons. We understand that you were unconscious during SCAR’s formation so you might not have heard the public version and it matters even with the power politics” James nodded and continued “SCAR has three goals in its mission statement. If you want the flowery language read the document but essentially it is to prevent specials from creating nuisance, to discover the origin purpose and use of the abilities and finally to significantly strike back at the raiders. Ideally to protect and prevent harm to the civilian population but at this point revenge would also be accepted”
Morgan could make guesses about where this was going and decided to push things along rather than string it out “So I am guessing that they have not met all three goals. Have they met any?”. James grimaced “Yes. Unlike other nations, and not just banana republics some G7 and G20 countries we have the special population conforming to social norms. Part of that of course is British norms are just reasonable but part is down to the ruthless suppression of even minor incidents”. Robert interjected “Major Channing and the micro have quite a ruthless reputation but seeing the stats they are not the worst by any means”. With a nod James continued “Whilst the usual hippie whiner types are upset GB is recovering faster and stronger than most due to his majesty preventing a complete collapse and the armed forces suppressing problems – incidentally that does not mean riots, essentially the army has become employer of last resort”
Robert took over the lead “But of the other two goals? Total failure. I was talking to Doraiswami from the Indian collective last week and he pointed out that there magical swami leading religious riots had a better record for training and exploiting specials than we did. When you have no idea what the hell you are doing maybe some half barmy cross eyed swami is as useful as a list of degrees pages long” taking a sip of his coffee he continued “And of course nobody anywhere has had any luck at all in predicting or intercepting a hard landing. Faulkner refuses to split up his forces to remote rapid response installations because he says it invites defeat in detail but if there were true civvy control I promise you that would be happening.” James butted in “Of course all of his explanations are true, we do not question that but all it means is that he can excuse failure” to which Robert continued “At some point failure becomes unacceptable no matter the veracity of the explanations”.
They seemed to be double teaming him but as a veteran of these types of business meetings he wondered when they were going to let him talk. Conversations changed minds, not lectures. Despite this they continued to talk. It seemed to be James turn “Of course there are other bodies and organisations’ attempting to use and exploit Specials abilities but the problem seems to be its too unpredictable to industrialise”. A sip of his coffee let Morgan interject at last “Well I appreciate the analysis, my question is why are you sharing it with, forgive me, a squaddie without any resources worthy of the name to call his own. Why are you trying to talk to me about stuff way over my pay grade?” James gave a wan smile “Droll. You are not so naive as to believe yourself without value but I will spell it out. Your ability to make new cores means several industrialists are keen to exploit you to create industrial magic. Some of the proposed company names are fascinating. On a less capitalist note the intelligence services are not blind to the possibilities inherent in tuneable agents. Police response teams also. The possibilities are many” Robert took the lead again “But all of these are dependant on you Mr Oxbridge. I appreciate that this is all new and you need time to think. Should you ever wish to discuss any of this I would like to give you a contact number for my colleague here. He can discuss this with you and expedite any difficulties” James nodded with a smile “For example I could arrange an honourable military discharge with minimal notice” whilst passing him a business card.
He felt unclean but he took the card. As smarmy and underhanded as this conversation was he appreciated the confirmation of his suspicions. Whilst they both beamed at him he decided to lead things along “what are the politicians doing? I mean in my day that would usually get a laugh but surely they are not taking the emasculation of politics lying down”. The answer boiled down to three major strategies, Cut funding, propaganda and red tape. It seemed that the King was more relevant and political than expected as he had refused royal assent to some particularly egregious legislation requiring health and safety assessments be completed prior to any military engagements. The bill had been withdrawn for amendment and buried in committee but a part of the game had become feeling out the palace for what might have assent issues. It all sounded very Edwardian to Morgan but before he could ask his next question they were interrupted and he was led away.
The remaining 15 minutes was pointless. He talked to the mathematicians who seemed fascinated by the fact that if he didn’t understand an ability he was not sure he could assign it. Using the example of detonations he pointed out that an object could explode for lots of reasons. It could have its properties changed, it could have explosives added to it or perhaps just have energy added to the point where it would explode all by itself. Even with the clarification obtained he still had plenty of leeway about how to make objects explode. Colonel Faulkner had apparently been listening in and added that each of those options may have big differences in outcomes both in terms of casualties and destruction. At that point the conversation about casualty rates for different types of explosions got technical showing that even killing benefited from being analysed way past the point of casual interest.
He left the meeting head spinning. Those two suits had changed his view of his situation. He might not be able to avoid being used by somebody but it looked like he might be able to pick the somebody. A choice of bad outcomes was still a choice after all. While thinking about it he was found by a private who gave him a message to go to Channings office. Expecting to meet the major for some sort of political debrief he was surprised to be directed to Rupert his secretary. Rupert passed him a note with a time and gate number, at his blank expression Rupert elaborated “Quiet Girl has permission to come on base for four hours. That’s where and when”. Thanking him he noted he had three hours to get ready and left with a determined air. That lasted until he got out of the building. After some dithering he went home and composed an Email to Marie asking when she would be free again.
Thinking of Helen he looked up the regs on dating in the ranks, it looked nightmarish and required a level of commitment that implied you were already going steady. Still Helen presumably knew all this already, he could not believe that there wasn’t a come-on in her behaviour so was she ready to go through this rigmarole without knowing if it was serious? Why? He thought for a while with his thoughts going in circles then gave up and started to watch old TV news programmes again.
Whilst this was mostly more of the same he watched as Joanne was interviewed with her plea to persuade the insurance companies to pay out on his policies. He touched the screen with the sound off just watching her talk, the way she clenched her hands and the curve of her lips as she answered. The next hour was unproductive, grief can hit you hard even when you think its over and Morgan was no different.
Eventually he pulled himself together. Annie was coming to visit. Tidying up the house was his first thought and then his next was having some food in. A quick trip to the base commissary got him well not much but he picked the best of what was there which he took back to his house and arranged in the cupboards trying to make it look like he always had good stuff in. While trying to decide what to do he thought about the bands she had liked and the things she had eaten as a fourteen year old. Would playing that music be condescending or comforting? Knowing he had to do something he cued it up anyway and then went to tidy himself up and get smartly dressed.
Aftershave. While he was getting dressed up and ready he picked up some aftershave and it wasn’t until he was about to put it on he realised that this was not a date and he should not treat it like one. Ditching the jacket and putting on a more casual shirt he looked in the mirror and tried to convince himself that he gave off “cool dad” vibes. Realising that in the history of the universe nobody ever pulled off cool dad vibes he decided enough was enough and started to walk to the gate, it was stupidly early but he would wait without complaint. The day was pleasant but the ground was still a bit muddy from some showers the night before and his sparkly polished shoes quickly became an issue. Dodging, sliding leaping he eventually came to the guard station with two of the three people attending watching him coming for the last 100 yards. He did not need his sensory augmentation to know that gate duty was boring and he was possibly the most interesting thing to happen at this gate for quite a while so he ignored the sarcastic comments asking did he need help walking in a straight line and instead inquired if they could confirm the arrival times on his orders matched the ones on their orders.
After a few minutes he explained what was going on and when they realised she was coming from a hospital they chided him for not getting a car in case she was unable to walk. The gate organised delivery of a jeep and it arrived with minutes to spare. Minutes filled with a sergeant lecturing him about anticipation and preparation. If he had not just helped him out this would have been annoying but as it was he just nodded along.
The ambulance looked very white and his initial fears about her state were put to rest when it became obvious that despite the livery this was a minibus not a medical vehicle. Annie got out thanking the driver wearing a skirt and jacket that looked, well it looked practical and relaxed. Either she had decided like him not to make it look like a date or she really did only have clothes that a nun would buy. Her right arm still immobilised and strapped to her body she waved with her left and approaching the gate pulled out some id that she proffered to gain entry. Expected as she was the id was still checked thoroughly either through professionalism or boredom. Morgan waited for her to be waved through then rushed over and hugged her despite his earlier plans to be cool dad. This time she hugged him back beaming. “So Dad, any plans?” Morgan shook his head “no not this time, I left a little girl on the cusp of womanhood. I have to get to know the lady I see now. All of which is an excuse for no plans at all. I thought we go back to my house and just get to know each other again for a few hours. When do you have to return?” Giving him a time they walked over to the jeep and he helped her in, though he was prepared to assist she firmly slapped his hands away and putting the seatbelt on by herself sat back with a determined air. Driving back onto base he pointed out the various buildings and what they were for not because she had asked but it kept the talk going without touching on the dangerous subjects. Approaching number 38 he saw Poppy leaving, when she saw Annie she scowled but turned around and walked back with a smile.
“Mr Oxbridge I just thought you could offer an explanation to me for getting Carly distressed however if now is not a convenient time for you and well whoever this lady friend is I can come back later”. Annie raised an eyebrow “This lady friend? Geez dad ok we can start with gossip I suppose”. That caused a snort from Poppy “Dear I don’t mind what you call each other but just as a word to the wise given your ages uncle is more believable. Trust me” Ignoring Poppy Annie turned to Morgan “Tell me later what you did to this Carly lady. Can I go inside and wait?” Giving her the key and pointing to the right door he turned round to Poppy. “Not nice. Not nice at all. For the record that is my daughter, I had her in my 40’s and I had already told you I am older than I look. Now between offending you and reacquainting myself with my daughter who has not seen me for over a decade the choice is clear. Come back later. I will apologise and explain as required but not now.” He paused while she looked shocked and after a few moments “Sorry if I wasn’t clear. Go away. I have other priorities and being polite to the lady who just suggested my daughter is a slag is not one of them. Go”. To her credit she did.