Beep! Beep! Beep!
The noisy repeatable sound of the alarm was hammering Robert’s brain through his deep sleep, but his tired body just refused to react to it, stubbornly trying to fall into the joy of pleasant darkness. However, soon in addition to the already annoying sounds new appeared. As if it was not enough, someone started punching his door, decisively stopping all of Robert’s dreams to have proper rest, which he, worth noting, really deserved. The metal was almost bending under the strong hits, ending his last glimmer of hope to wait out an unexpected guest.
“Rob, fucking hell, get your ass up! Now! Wave incoming!” filled with nervousness and agitation, a familiar voice shrilled out behind the door.
“Ahhh,” Robert moaned before dropping out from the bed with clear unwillingness. “What’s the time? Damn, only two hours have passed… those bastards always trying to choose the most unfortunate time to die.”
He slowly stood up after checking his wristwatch, showing the unwillingness with each gesture. Exhaustion was still pressing on him, but Rob had no real choice. He stretched his skinny arms in an attempt to get himself in shape faster. It didn’t help. After slapping his own cheeks a few times, Robert turned on the light in the room to find his clothes. However, truthfully speaking, calling a “room” the place where he slept was quite an exaggeration.
It was uncomfortably tiny and had almost no free space, looking more like a prison cell. The bed, wardrobe, and folding table left just enough space to leave this room if needed, but you could forget any attempt to fit even a few people inside. What was more, Robert’s body, despite being painfully thin, was very tall, towering over two meters by a good margin and ending with a full seven feet (213 cm). Because of that, his messy black hair almost touched the ceiling, which in turn emphasized an awful impression of his place of residence.
Robert sighed once again, while he was looking in a small mirror on the wall. It was not hard to notice the big bags under his bright, almost shining, green eyes. He wasn’t pretty at all at the young age of twenty. With his aquiline nose, bushy eyebrows, and square jaw, his face looked like it was made from stone by an incompetent artisan, who was rushing through his work to finish early to finally get drunk in the nearest bar. Too rough. However, after adding extended periods of sleepless nights and overuse of his brain, the situation was even sadder.
“Yeah, Rob, as always, you look like shit…,” interrupted by heavy knocking, he hastily dressed up in his crumpled uniform that he found lying under the bed after a quick search. “Coming! Can you stop, damn it?”
A huge man with a bushy beard in full combat armor met Robert after the door was popped open. Equipped with thick armor plates and supported by an inbuilt exoskeleton just to have the ability to walk with that enormous weight, his figure was almost thrice bigger then Rob's. That was even without an ammo backpack and a standard Marine’s machine gun. Together that created a stark contrast between his bald head without a helmet, which looked comically small in comparison to his puffy steel-covered body.
“What took you so long, Rob? Your non-existent muscle can’t give you a pace faster than a snail?” the bearded fighter grinned.
“Oh, that hurts, you know,” answered Robert, making his way past a huge figure into the corridor “And I thought we were friends, James. All these years I even kept my promise to never tell anyone that you’ve read fewer books than I have fingers on my single hand. I know how tough it is to accept that even a few pages made your brain vibrate so severely that you lost all your hair. I feel it, man” Turning around and looking directly in James’s eyes, Robert patted his armored shoulder. “Don’t strain it, it will hurt. Again”.
Before his army colleague could find what to say in return, an angered voice resounded behind their back.
“Stop messing around, Tadpole! We’ve got an emergency.”
“Yes, Captain,” Robert winked at James and quickly rushed to the waiting figure of his leader in similar armor. Soon he was silently listening to brief information on the current situation. The latter wasn’t developing in a positive way in the slightest.
“A few hours ago a large horde was spotted gathering in the fields. Our aircraft tried to burn them, but, unfortunately, the bastards had hidden enough flying types to destroy our birds in the counterattack. What is worse, our sector is not the only one being targeted. At least nine hordes are aiming at us or the nearby sectors. So don’t expect any reinforcements. Most likely the higher-ups will gather forces to repel the enemies after the breakthrough of our defense lines to stop further advances and minimize overall damage.”
“This new fucking strategy of exhausting the alien’s numbers before wiping them out, when they don’t have the opportunity to retreat, sounds good only on paper, but, honestly speaking, is a brain-dead way to lose the lives of the defenders, even having the ability to prevent it. They are assholes, Captain!”
“Rob, stop it. You know that is the creation of a new defense minister, with which he has won the elections. We can’t change anything.”
“Crap… Do they even know that I have completely lost twenty percent of my group? The third part of the leftovers has been damaged to a different degree. How do they think I can stop a wave without any support when they can’t even fix my machines in time? I sent a report a month ago and nothing changed so far! They have only stupid excuses - they are working on, some nonsense about a limited budget and over-planned casualties. As if I can…,” Robert used all his will to suppress his boiling emotions.
“Tadpole, we don’t have a choice. Both of us. Despite my higher position, I am in the same situation as you are. We have an order. The end. You know what is behind our backs. So better be ready to do everything possible to kill every single one of them.”
Seeing the seriousness in the eyes of his captain, Robert just nodded, keeping his inner thoughts to himself once more. While making his way to the operator room, he tried not to understand, but to feel with his heart the captain's motivation to act. To protect. To risk his life. To sacrifice in time of need for a greater goal. The result was the same as always. He failed. The reason was simple – he was different from others.
As the world was almost destroyed twenty-three years ago, everything had changed. It started with an ordinary meteorite that appeared on the Earth’s trajectory. Not for the first time, nor for the last, but this time the data confirmed an inventible collision after many check-ups. The space rock was big enough to demolish a huge megapolis and its surroundings, but luckily not to cause a global catastrophe with the possibility of killing every living beings. Still, the threat was there, and immediate actions took place. Around a hundred of the biggest missiles were launched by the world’s coalition in an attempt to annihilate it completely.
The operation was successful. Only small fragments were left to burn in the atmosphere, while over 95% of the falling threat had disappeared under the enormous temperature of nuclear explosions. However, it turned out it was just the beginning of a never-ending war. From the smallest rocks that managed to get to the land, the aliens came out. Not some highly technological species, but more like brainless monsters. Fast evolving, fast breeding, and very aggressive monsters, who were controlled by a hive mind. At least, there were such speculations. Again, not some super intelligent, but enough to coordinate them and to make proper adjustments in tactics with the single goal of devouring all living beings.
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In the next few years, old borders and countries ceased to exist only to be replaced with a new united Alliance. Humanity used all possible means just to repel the invasion and survive. Up to this moment, huge defensive lines were constructed, dividing territory between humans and aliens. By this point, the population managed to return to life before the Fall inside protected territories. Social activities or entertainment with a star in different reality shows, loud scandals when another skeleton was taken out of the cupboard, political battles on elections with occasional fights because of incomparability of opinions on pet’s rights. There were even groups of dead-brain activists demanding to negotiate, thinking that humans could get a peace deal with aliens if they just stopped firing. As always, people wanted a simple solution, as if it was ever possible.
However, over half of the remaining population didn’t even care about lasting fierce battles on those borders. The problem of decades of war – it started to become habitual background noise. Many citizens focused on their lives and pretended that nothing was happening. The soldier’s death toll was an odd number in uninteresting statistics, shown not even on the first page of the newly printed press. Of course, until the moment when defense lines fell, and their region was under direct danger. Fortunately, scientists used knowledge from alien bodies themselves to fight against such enemies on equal terms.
Thus, Robert was “made”. As a child of five years old, he was approved to be compatible with the modification of the brain. His parents were given huge compensation and willingly gave him up to create a new “protector” of humanity. Same as lots of other families, some sought wealth, while others were motivated by noble goals. Not all children survived the operation, but now all strategic points of defense were based on the people such as Robert. That came with the cost of almost no understanding of what a normal life was.
Trained until fifteen and serving in the army after that, Robert fought because he had nothing else. After he had read hundreds of books in his spare time, he could understand why he was needed in his role. However, to accept it with a clear heart was something impossible. The society that he needed to protect seemed to be in a parallel universe, very far from him. While he was asking about the replacement of his war machines and not getting one, other twenty-year-olds could beg their parents about a new car with a more powerful engine just to be given it in a few days. At least such videos were much more popular than scenes of battles on the net.
“Are you alright, Tadpole?” Captain’s question followed when he noticed Robert’s mindless state.
“As always, as always,” A weak smile appeared on Rob’s face, and he quickly went into his operator’s room focusing on the nearing battle. Without any pause, he plopped down on the familiar chair, took a worn-out connector, and with an accustomed move shoved it into the implant on the back of his head.
“Lieutenant Robert Flop, second-rank mobile group operator, serial number MGDY-27053010, reporting for duty,” while he was speaking, the system simultaneously checked all biological parameters and admittance before pushing his consciousness into a command drone. The next moment his world exploded with torrents of data from hundreds of sensors, stocked-piled reports after he was gone, and much more. The brain of an ordinary human would have been overloaded in just a few seconds, causing painful death, but for such modified people like Robert, it is as easy as just watching a movie. Of course, special equipment took a huge part of the burden, but it couldn’t do it alone. Right now, while checking available machines and mentally sighing because of the result, he was barely noticing any load on his mind. That would change completely when it would be the time to fight.
5 Self-propelled artillery units, 9 artillery rocket units, 12 heavy tanks, 7 anti-aircraft gun tanks, and 143 light mecha machine gun units, but only 5 scout drones left. However, at least 15 engineer mechs for reloading ammunition. Still not sure if it is enough…
Double-checking the status of each machine and noting their damage to adjust future tactics, Robert embraced his entire group before sending it out from the underground bunker. Each unit had a semi-auto function. That gave a possibility to control them by the periphery of the mind, easing simple tasks in calm time, while being useless during battles. Such operators like Robert always directly controlled everything, making the cooperation level between military machines unachievable even for well-trained crews and squads.
On top of that, he could perceive and process much more constantly changing data on the battlefield during fights to adjust his commands without losing even a single moment. Attempts to use artificial intellegence in such tasks failed dramatically. Too many different situations and regularly evolving enemies made it nearly impossible to teach AL to command on the same level, especially against something new. At least for now. There was progress in that direction, just not enough to be on par with them. Moreover, the absence of a living person to blame and the need for proper supply without delays made the defense ministry oppose this technology. Of course, officially they used completely different wordings, but between having a scapegoat or not, it was an obvious choice for a ranked general.
Overall, the existence of such operators like Robert was the main reason why currently the human's defense lines were holding strong. Using limited resources, they managed to squeeze out almost one hundred percent efficiency from it. Right now only officers, service staff, and heavy infantry consisted of non-modified marines. The latter mainly focused on defending bunkers with operators inside because, unfortunately, the range of communication for direct control wasn't long enough to place them in a safe place, beyond the frontlines. However, it made slowly the building problem of the distinction between citizens and their main protectors unavoidable.
“Hey, Rob, how are you? Man, I slept like never before. Full-fledged ten hours of wonderful dreams and oh, man, everything I saw there would make you incredibly jealous.”
The text that appeared right in the corner of Robert’s virtual sight made him unconsciously smile. The fast-processing mind of operators made it easier to communicate using ordinary chats, especially during battles. Higher officers could reread it in real time or in most cases with some delay because the speed of their exchange for external observers looked like a flying wall of letters. Additionally, there were no rules forbidding anything in it. That’s why after the first message almost a hundred emojis appeared, graphically describing the horny dreams of his colleague.
“Leo, your imagination has never stopped to amuse me. You, without any doubt, can become a scenarist of any adult movie. Top rating easily guaranteed. And then, when you get your long-awaited reward of being the best of the best, standing on the scene with a figurine in your hands under the jealous eyes of thousands, you can blow off their mind, telling them that you are still a virgin,” retorted Robert to his neighbor in the defense line.
“So are you, Bamboo. Hard to correct this unfortunate mistake in the natural order, when all your company consists of around two dozen muscled-headed male marines, while the nearest lady is as far as a moon,” Leonard complained, not even bothering to react to Rob's joke.
“Hey!” a new message popped immediately. Robert could almost feel indignation in it, “What girl can even fall for a gnome, like you? Stump!”
“Hello, Marg,” Rob chuckled, greeting his second neighbor, but the playful verbal hassle abruptly stopped when a leader of their sector appeared.
“Okay, gentlemen and the lady, we’ve got a wave incoming. Be careful, try to help others if you see possible breakthroughs or danger to the bunker. I expect from everyone your usual top-notch performance. Nothing new, except no reinforcements…”
“Oh, come on, Brad, you were formally appointed as a senior just because you are older by two years, but you literally have no power at all. Stop being such a pretentious idiot. Everyone here has the same rank,” Leo didn’t even try to resist the temptation to mock someone, especially Brad.
“On the same level of stupidity…”
“On the same level? Do you want me to be on the same level as you? Okay, then go and f…”
“Get that short bastard, Brad. His tongue had to be cut off long ago, but that will leave him a complete eunuch.”
“Guys, what have I missed?”
New and new messages bombarded the chat. It was hard to believe that only ten people from their sector could make such a mess, but it was the usual thing. Such quarrels always appeared before noticeable waves, helping everyone to release the growing emotions inside of them. Not all fights had ended without casualties and even being in a bunker couldn’t ensure total safety. Robert had lost plenty of his friends during those years of service and each loss was quite painful. Just his outer façade hid it well.
Maybe these people are exactly who I am fighting for. Not those, behind defense lines, but my friends, operators like me. There is also Captain, James, and others… That’s enough for me. Okay, Rob, brace yourself, you have alien’s asses to kick!