--- Earth Year 2037 ---
The holographic Joe Frazier swung his right arm, aiming for my kidney. I shuffled back, trying to dodge, but I was unsuccessful.
This hologram only had two-thirds Frazier's actual punching power, but it didn't matter–getting smacked by any semblance of Joe Frazier sucked.
I heaved as his fist sunk into my ribs. My eyes started to blur as I felt my body slowly give out. The holographic ring around me and the testers booth outside the hologram swayed in my vision, multiplying like I was looking through a kaleidoscope. I felt the wind pass my face as my body fell.
Ding, ding, ding! The bell rang as I hit the canvas. A chorus of holographic attendees got to their feet and started chanting, "Frazier, Frazier, Frazier!"
I closed my eyes and let the ref count.
To be one hundred, I could’ve fought back, maybe even lasted the round and regrouped for the next, but I didn't have a reason to. I was called here after work, in the late hours of the night, and by the people I hate the most. Not exactly the best setup to motivate a man.
"9…10!" With the end of the countdown, the whole ring disappeared, along with Frazier and the crowd.
The only hologram still up was the ref. It turned to the tester’s booth where the lab coats from the Valkyrie Defence Committee watched. "Subject has been defeated. Hand-to-hand rank: D minus. A 300% decrease from last check up." The human voice of the ref was completely gone, replaced with the AI voice I'd heard since I was a kid.
The intercom started buzzing. "300% decrease? Steven, just because you’re not in the War Maiden program anymore doesn’t mean we can’t throw you into an isolation chamber." The charisma of the Valkyries in action. “If you don’t give us what we want, we will threaten you until you do.”
I rolled my eyes at the lab boy's words, and pulled myself up, heading to a stool that had been in my corner. "Calm down, egghead. Not my fault you pushed for the tests to be run today, after work and past my bedtime. Not exactly the best setup for peak performance, now is it? I thought you guys were smart–that's why they give you the fancy white lab coats–but I guess not." I made sure to sound as hostile as possible, which is the only kind of response these people deserved.
"That does not matter. You are under contract to perform at your utmost at these check ups. If my associates and I find you lacking, then we will seize you and your brothers like the property you are. Now, be a good little boy and do it again."
Despite the pain in my side, I stood up. No one was going to threaten my brothers. "Oh! They learn how to synthesize a spine in the labs–that why you got your panties all tied up? Well, then, come in here and maybe I’ll give you the peak performance you're looking for!” I spat on the floor. “Besides, if you could seize us you would have already. The only thing you can do to me is run these tests.” I was feeling brave.
The Valkyrie Defense Committee was the third-strongest neutral force this side of the Milky Way, but the Oak Wolves, the force run by Ma’he, my oldest brother, was the second strongest. “Actually, go ahead, do it. See what the Oak Wolves have to say.” I didn’t like throwing my brother's weight around, it made me feel like a damsel in distress, but these people treated us like animals, and the only language they knew was power.
For the longest time, their faction had led the galaxy in martial might, taking everything they wanted and destroying anyone who stood in their way. Even now, despite losing their number one spot, they still thought they were better than everyone.
A long silence passed. “Very well, Steven, you have failed the hand-to-hand portion of the check up and added nothing of value to our data set. Thank you for your cooperation. Head to the blood and mind portion of the tests, maybe you can be of use there.”
I could hear the sarcasm wafting off his harsh words, an obvious attempt to get a rise out of me. Not wanting to give them the satisfaction, I ignored it and limped towards the exit.
As I was about to leave, the intercom buzzed again, “When your brother dies in the frontlines, we’ll come for you.” This was a new voice, one that sounded less sarcastic and more hateful. I guess the original speaker didn’t get the effect the group in the booth wanted, so they sent the A-Team.
I turned around. They're just trying to get under your skin, Steven. Don't do anything stupid, don’t make the day more annoying than it already has been. The thoughts did their best to calm me, but this time the Valkyries went too far. I was not going to let them get away with threatening my family twice.
I walked up to the tester’s booth, a completely white box with tinted, bullet-proof windows. I could hear frantic footsteps inside as I raised my fist and punched the door. The sound was loud, like dropping a textbook in a quiet classroom. I knew I wasn’t able to break the door, but I was strong, much stronger than the average man. My punch had left a dent.
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“If my brother dies on the frontlines, and if the Valkyries come to seize me, I will make sure it is the most difficult thing your people have ever done.”
The footsteps in the room stopped, and the ambient noise of the facility seemed to quiet down. It was a moment of stillness and calm that wasn’t normal for this unholy place. Looks like they got the message, I thought to myself, turning around.
From behind the tester's door, I heard someone whisper, “What an idiot.” My mind went from a manageable rage to a torrent of fury. In an instant, the calm vanished as I punched at the door like a gatling gun, bloodying my fists, leaving dents each time I pulled my arm back.
The room started flashing red, alarms sirened loud, and I could hear security running down the hall.
Any sane person would have stopped and realized that getting in this much trouble for something so dumb wasn't worth it, but I couldn’t help myself. Don’t be an idiot, Steven. If you’re not compatible with Sigrun, then you are useless, and I can’t waste my time on you. My mothers words sounded in my ear like church bells, enhancing my already burning-hot anger.
The door eventually gave way, just enough to peek one of my eyes inside.
“Don’t ever call me an idio…” Ztzzz. I didn’t even reach the end of my sentence before the tasers hit me.
“I don’t care what Steven may, or may not, have done. If you don’t get a handle on your employees, I will write a letter of complaint to the World Government, decrying your operations here. Do you hear me, Overseer Garren?” The voice of my brother Kyle was furious as he yelled.
I shook my head, trying to jog my brain out of its stupor. After the tasing, I wasn't sure what happened. I think I headbutted a guard, or bit a dude's ear off, it’s all really fuzzy.
“You’re lucky we don’t lock him, you, and your other two worthless family members up! He physically assaulted two guards and bit the ear off another. If he was still our property, I would have taken his tongue as compensation.”
Images of a guard screaming with his hand over one side of his face entered my mind. I smiled. Oh, that's what happened. Usually, violence isn’t something I think fondly of, I even try my best to avoid killing bugs. But, for a Valkyrie? I can think of no fonder memories.
With a smile on my face, I tried to stand up, but was met with resistance.
I looked around. Instead of the holographic training room, I was in the Mind and Blood Center, strapped to a wheelchair like a psych patient. The place looked like any hospital you’d find on Earth, complete with heartbeat detectors, IV drips, and white sanitized floors and walls. Though, unlike a typical hospital, personal well-being was at the bottom of their list. These people were more likely to torture you than to heal you.
“I don’t care if he bit the man's arm off. All your employees are aware of his emotional infancy. I dare say, some here are hand-in-hand with our parents in causing that developmental lack.”
I lifted my head at the comment. “I resent that, Kyle. I’m not developmentally lacking in anything. The guy called me an ‘idiot’. What am I supposed to do, just let them get away with it?”
Like the spin of a weed wacker, Kyle twisted his body to look at me. Seeing the small man mad was never something I enjoyed. The way his green eyes narrowed, how his bald, shiny head darkened, and how his little frame seemed to figuratively become massive worked together to shut me up.
“I don’t want to hear a damn word from you. You are lucky we have evidence of taunting. If not, you would be spending Christmas, New Year’s, and probably even Halloween in the custody of these savages. You sit there, and behave yourself.”
My body went rigid at the rebuke, and Kyle’s attention swung back to the overseer.
He took a deep breath. “Neither of us will get the justice we hope for from the courts. So, Mr. Garren, let us put this to the wayside and finish up these worthless tests, so that my brothers and I can leave you and your men to your work.”
Garren’s face scrunched up in rage. “You're right. Let's get this done so I don’t have to look at the faces of our greatest failures.” His words dripped with malice.
Eventually, he called over several doctors who wheeled me towards a giant machine that looked like an airport metal detector–the Lexicon, a piece of tech worth a planet.
No human really knows how this bad boy works. A few were given to Earth as a gift from the Galactic General Council, with only the instruction on how to operate it and nothing else. It's supposed to be a way for humanity to catch up with the rest of the galaxy, but I’m not sure how. The only thing I know the Lexicon for is giving me nightmares.
The tests I was doing in the Valkyries’ California facilities were known as “check ups.” When my eldest brother, Ma’he, won custody of my siblings and me in a violent court case the Valkyries have never forgotten, he had to sign several documents that ensured they could continue doing reasonable and humane tests on us. These usually come in four phases: the first is a written test, the second is an hour-long run, the third is a combat simulation, and the fourth is going through the Lexicon.
They do these tests every year. Kyle tried to explain to me what they were for, but the whole breakdown went over my head. Something about monitoring side effects, or whatever.
The doctors unstrapped me from my restraints and helped me into the middle of the Lexicon. When I was fully situated, they went to a console and flipped a switch.
The whole machine began to rumble as lights started scanning me up and down. A holographic screen appeared in front of my face with a lady standing in the frame.
“Please relax your body, place your hands on your sides, and lift your head.”
I did as the hologram said, and several clamps wrapped themselves around my neck, arms, and back.
“Now, close your eyes and take three deep breaths.”
I closed my eyes. I could hear the woman as she breathed. Inhale, exhale, inhale. On the third breath, I was asleep.