Chapter 4: Rou’dan

Rou’dan was situated far away from the Tyran forest, and that was thought to give our species the best chance at a head start on the planet, safe from the creatures of the forest, known and unknown. Caleb decided to build our stronghold near the edge of the continent, on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. He said the city would be safe and protected from any attacks on those sides.

When we arrived in the city, several Tatski Hara were patrolling the front outer gate which towered high above us and was made out of very dense steel. From the front gate I could see most of the buildings in Rou’dan were a combination of beige and reinforced steel which gave it a unique look. To me, my first impression was that it seemed more like a resort than our only city, our last grip on our species existence. Some of the structures looked more like works of art than anything else. I felt a shred of resentment towards the engineers who attempted fancy architectural designs while the Tatski Hara were working overtime to ensure the survival of our species.

Although, matters of society weren’t what I was there for, I was there to defend other Tatski Hara from all the things we knew about and all the things we didn’t know about.

I knew I had to talk to someone about Mu-jung jo. I just wasn’t sure of how it would affect the orders from the chain of command if I told them everything. I made my way into the city with the other soldiers. The more I walked around the city of Rou’dan, the more I realized how incredible it was. It didn’t look like our base back on earth. Here it looked like people were living in harmony despite all that which ailed our lives here. The living quarters were created so that they were space-efficient; The bunks were really tight, right next to one another.

There were high-class apartments for the rich and dormitories for everyone else. The fortunes of some men on earth were still good for resources on Orion. Those who had succeeded in years prior had a headstart in terms of achieving their goals on the Red Planet. This proved to be in everyone's best interest though because the billionaires were the ones who had designed the city and used their wealth to create a space for all of us. Despite their contributions, It was always Caleb who had the final word on everything. Men could still keep their levels of wealth but the wealthiest amongst us were required to consult with Caleb and assist in what he wanted. After all, he had gotten us this far right?

Rou’dan was a misplaced paradise. It was grand and it had a lot of things that I didn’t expect. As our new capital, everyone here acted empowered, like there weren’t any threats. Maybe they were just happy to be there, alive and well. Maybe the armed guards made them feel safe. I caught wind that the second gen. Tatski Hara were the news all over Rou’dan.

Everyone wanted to know if we were as tough as the first gen. Or tougher. I didn’t know what was going on there at the time but everyone was aiding the war effort. The people who lived in Rou’dan placed their faith in the Tatski Hara. That’s why they were able to function normally, they believed we could protect them from anything that attacked.

After we got out of the tanks I was walking with everyone down the main street of the city. As I said it was incredible and it didn’t take long for members of my team to find something that piqued their curiosity. One by one they all went into different buildings. Fred went to find someone who could look after his puppy.

I overheard some people say that there were two other reconnaissance missions just like ours designated to explore the western mountains and another continent to the east. I was curious, I thought that I would’ve been briefed on this or that maybe we could cooperate together if it was a joint task force. Then again I was just hearing this from civilians and not the higher ups in the Tatski Hara, I didn’t know if any of it was actually true.

To my surprise after a minute of walking and taking in the city I saw my friend Liam sitting in a chair outside a nice bar. I recognized him right away but he wasn’t wearing his black Tatski Hara armor, he was wearing a Hawaiian style short sleeve shirt and some black sunglasses. He smiled and said 'Well, look who it is. Welcome to the city man!' He got up and we shook hands. I said 'Long time no see! How have you been?' I knew Liam was rank 12 so I thought it was odd that he was just relaxing here. He said: 'I’ve been good man, Well. I got caught up in a mission gone wrong. My team died...unceremoniously. That’s why I’m here. It’s why a lot of other Tatski are here too and to be honest I’m pissed off at the way everything was handled.'

I asked what happened and he ignored me. 'I heard about what happened the other day, you were the bait?' He started laughing. 'The way these missions are planned man, my friend gets put in the killzone on day one. Whatever I guess. But, one thing for certain, you and I have to catch up. I didn’t ignore you. We can talk more about it later. Drinks on me tomorrow night, you can bring your friend, deal?' This was a much easier deal to agree to. I noticed that Jess was beside me, she showed up out of thin air.

She said 'Sure, we’d love to.'

I said 'I guess I’ll see you here tomorrow night then, good to see you man.'

'Don’t be a stranger.' Liam was a true warrior. It was a pleasure to see him and if I didn’t give him all the respect he deserved at that moment then I knew he might challenge me to a drinking challenge the next night. I figured that I could handle that now, after all a quarter of my body was solid rock. After we said our goodbyes I kept walking and then turned to Jess who was just a little bit behind me. I gave her a look and she said 'what?' I said 'Are you following me?' She answered 'The vet with Fred? The bar with the guys? No, I want to look around like you are, is it a problem?' She sounded very reasonable, so I changed my mind and smiled at her. 'No problem, let’s go look around.'

We kept walking down the main street of Rau’don looking at all of the stores and food vendors. The dorms that doubled as the Tatski Hara headquarters were all the way on the other side of the city.

As we got closer to that side I could see the ocean. It was below us by maybe two hundred feet and it looked unforgiving. The waves there were giant, probably about thirty foot swells. You could tell if someone was down there they wouldn’t survive because there was nowhere to go. You would have to swim along the coastline for at least a mile to get around.

Beside the risk to our lives, the view was incredible, you could see the southern coast of the other continent and the vastness of the ocean. We were in Amala, north of us was Cyprus. Getting to Cyprus presented its own set of logistical challenges, whereas the Tyran forest was closer and easier to explore. As far as I was concerned Amala was where I needed to stay, but I heard that there were some Tatski Hara over there in Cyprus so I thought maybe I’d go there one day. As the sun was setting and I was enjoying life on the Red Planet. I turned to Jess and asked if I could see her gift from Caleb - the bracelet on her right hand.

She said 'They’re no buttons, there’s not much to see.' That was true, I just didn’t understand how these devices functioned at all. To me all I saw was yellow and green vines around her wrist. I held her hand for a moment and then spun her around into a hug. I thought I was smooth. I wouldn’t have done it if she didn’t give me signals that it was alright. She was cool with it and I could tell from the sound; as if releasing the sounds of the forest, the sound of birds enthusiastically chirping emulated from her bracelet. She laughed: 'I guess I’m not the only one who’s happy' then she let go. 'Stay focused on the mission, don’t fall into any water!' and turned and left for the night.

What a good choice of words for the view. She gave me a smile as she walked away. I think we were at a mutual understanding that we didn’t want to be away from each other. That’s probably why she walked away, alas. I was alone again, but I didn’t feel alone anymore, because of her. I felt supercharged. Maybe I should get my sleep schedule fixed, so that I’m supercharged next time I see any threats to my life. After standing there for a few more minutes I learned that the sun was my source of energy. Caleb’s device on my arm absorbed all of the heat. I was liking the effects of it more and more each day. I wanted to test it out in combat, but I didn’t know how I would use it. A lot of the creatures here were huge. I figured rock hard punches and elbows had to come in handy for a warrior sometime, I knew in the back of my mind that in combat it would be a last resort. I turned to walk back to the dorms.

We had only known each other for two days and I already felt like I was falling in love. I knew it wasn’t the amount of time, it was her. I didn’t know her secrets, but it just felt like we got along. She was a lot like me but she was all the things I wasn’t. Graceful, elegant, intelligent. (Okay maybe I’m being too hard on myself) I had to deal with an inner conflict; I wasn’t sure if I should just end things as soon as possible to spare us the pain if it didn’t work out between us, or if I should embrace my emotions. I figured doing nothing had its perks. If I didn’t think about her in battle she would still come to help me if I was injured.

Whereas ending everything abruptly seemed to be an increasingly volatile option. That choice would hurt both of us and it wouldn’t help either of us. She might even let her emotions get the best of her in battle. No, I figured she was going to be part of my rock-solid foundation here. She already showed dedication to me by jumping into the tyran river to save me. I had to just let my mind work it all out and wake up like a normal person, but I couldn’t. I started walking back to the dorms but I changed my mind, turned around and walked back towards the last rays of sun on the horizon.

As I reached the cliffs again I put my hands on the railing and just stood there. Maybe the planet was too much for me to handle. That’s what I felt like at that moment. I was certain nobody else was there when I was leaning on the railing looking at the ocean, but to my surprise I was tapped on my shoulder and when I looked to see who it was, it was Kai. We stood there together leaning on the railing. I had to break the silence to talk to him.

'How’s life?' I said. He took a second and said 'It’s not all that it’s cracked up to be.' I knew of his achievements, I knew who he was so I couldn’t understand his answer. I continued: 'You’re a Commander. Leading the second gen missions to continue humanity. Why do you sound depressed?' I looked over at him, he was frozen looking at the ground. I thought something was off when he said 'It depends on what you sacrifice.'

I asked him 'What was your gift from Caleb?' and he responded 'I have to take off my armor to show you.' He looked at me for confirmation - I nodded. He took off his Tatski Hara armor to reveal a new spine. It wasn’t made of obsidian like my arm was, it was made of something else. The new vertebrae along his spine were gray with a light green border. I took a look at it and said 'Your back doesn’t look normal, you’re bulging out along your spine.'

He agreed and said 'Caleb, he has a lot of crazy ideas but he has our species as his main interest. I have to believe it’s something worthwhile right?' I nodded again. 'You know back on earth we had to fight nuclear abominations and other men. It felt a lot easier.' This kind of set Kai off because he loved battle: 'Yeah, on earth it was easy. Here you have to think about so much more. The claw length, the stride length, VO2 max, how many are there, and how do you use the terrain? Here, well… It makes you think….I gave you orders to tell me what Mu-jung jo told you, why didn’t you request to speak with me?'

I had to think about it like my career was on the line, even though Kai was my friend he was also the team leader and he had the power to remove me from the mission and in that case I would never see my friends or Jess again. I had to give him the right answer that he wanted to hear, and Kai was sharp as a razor blade. There wasn’t any way I could lie to him without him knowing so I told him the truth: 'Mu-jung jo said that if I didn’t harm her species then she would let the woman I love live for a longer period of time. She said we could go into the forest on those terms.' I felt like I had done wrong by telling him the truth. He knew that this meant a lot to me but he responded with 'We need to seek advantage anyway we can, you know this. Peace with the blitzers would save so many lives. But if this deal puts you or the one you love… who is that? Maybe it is safer that we remove both of you from the mission.'

'Kai you need me on this mission, you know I was meant to go into the Tyran forest. I proved my bravery to you today, why would you think I’m a liability? She said we had her permission to get resources because of our deal..'

'I don’t want to kill the ones you love Joseph, think hard before you take a tone with me. I will always be your commanding officer but before any of that, first and foremost I’m your friend.'

He stood up from the railing. 'We need to be together on this. I can tell this blitzer is in your head. Stay close to the ones you love the most.' Then he walked away.

What was wrong with me? I was so full of anger and unrest. I just got to the Red Planet and I didn’t even have a moment to breathe before I was cursed. Cursed to know that if we killed the Blitzers, Mu-jung jo wouldn’t care if it was by my hand, she would still kill Jess. I took a deep breath in. I guess all our days are limited, but it's about what you do in each moment that shapes you.

I didn’t know how many moments I would have left with her. If our species didn’t kill any blitzers from now on, would that mean Jess and I could live our lives in their entirety? Was peace with the blitzers a real option for us? I had to find out. I knew I had to talk to Caleb because if he didn’t change the way these missions were being conducted then we wouldn’t be in Mu-jung jo’s favor. As it stood, our snipers were killing blitzers left and right. The blitzers would ambush our patrols and drag their bodies away in retaliation. She said we had killed so many of her kind and I believed her. I saw footage of Tatski Hara standing triumphantly over packs of blitzers. I knew this. I could feel her pain because of our loss of the first generation of Tatski Hara. I turned in for the night. I had enough to think about.

My second day on Orion was filled with hope. I woke up at 7 feeling the best I had in a long time, I was surprised. I went to sleep with Caleb’s device still on me, not sure if it was worse than sleeping with contact lenses but evidently it didn’t do any harm. I started the day out with some much needed push ups and went for a run around the city. The sun was rising over the ocean to the west and it was incredible. The intensity of the sun here was definitely why they called it the Red Planet.

I learned that it was stupid to run with my Tatski Hara armor on because ten minutes into my run when the sun was almost fully revealed I was being cooked alive. I called it quits after 3 miles because the sun was no joke, I checked when I got back and the temperature was 102 degrees Fahrenheit. I splashed my face with some ice cold water which was refreshing. I let my hands soak in the water to lower my body temperature and it gave me time to think.

I had to see a higher up in the organization to talk with about the next step in the mission. I took the elevator down to the -12th floor. This floor resembled the headquarters on earth, it was full of quantum computers and high ranking intelligence personnel. At the other side of the room were three huge screens, probably 80 feet across. I was looking for Novak but he wasn’t there.

I approached one of the other generals, he was the only other general there and his badge read Thompson. He was smoking a cigarette and flipping through a folder with classified intel. I caught his attention, saluted and inquired

'General Thompson, may I have permission to speak with Caleb?'

He was very busy, the situation was closer to hectic than I realized and there were a lot of people running around us in an urgent manner. He looked up at me through his glasses. The flat look on his face read Are you serious? The next thing he said was to someone else and then he turned to me:

'We can’t just let anyone walk in and speak with Caleb. What’s so important that you need to speak to him?'

I told him what I told Kai about Mu-jung jo. He listened and nodded. Thompson looked pissed off while I was talking with him. I understood that Caleb was busy but I thought this was definitely worth his time.

Thompson agreed:

'Okay, Joseph. I did hear about what you did yesterday and I’ll tell you what. I know that we’ve never had any type of communication with the Blitzers and maybe that was for the best. Now, times have changed.

Neutrality with the Blitzers would improve our situation drastically. But, it’s not part of the mission objectives. I’m not going to grant you an audience with Caleb.'

I was shocked that he said that, but a moment later he continued.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

'He doesn’t control how the Tatski Hara functions, I do. Are we clear?' I nodded.

He paused for a second then said:

'Do you know how many blitzers we’ve killed?'

He waited, I shook my head.

'Do you know how many Tatski Hara we lost?' Again I shook my head no.

'When Mu-jung jo said we had decimated her kind she was lying to you. There’s five dead Tatski Hara for every blitzer we kill.'

When General Thompson told me this I knew he was on my side. He put the folder down and looked at me. 'I have their names right here if you care to look. As of now, I’ll give orders for Tatski Hara to stand down against the Blitzers.’

‘If they attack us we will still be forced to retaliate. You are in the thick of it right now and I’m putting you back in with the next battalion. Ask them what they know about Tyrannus and report back to me. Not Kai, not Caleb. If you do this I’ll overlook that you have a piece of those demons on your body. Now get out of my sight.' He turned and walked away.

I understood General Thompson. He was a no nonsense type of Tatski. I guess that was that. I had no idea if Mu-jung jo was going to try and find a way around our deal, I wouldn’t put something like that past her. After all, she seemed to be a very intelligent creature. It’s just so difficult to get past that fearsome appearance… those razor sharp teeth and claws. A being that was bred for war, with thick bones and obsidian scales, would you find that creature to be particularly trustworthy? Or particularly intimidating?

When I met Mu-jung jo I was scared by the way she looked but when Thompson referred to her kind as demons, I thought that was going a bit too far. Misunderstood pack predators, yes. Demons? I wasn’t quite sure. I left the facility and entered back out into the city which was still hot as ever. Now the time was 0437.

I walked over to main street with all of the restaurants and I realized I hadn’t sat down to eat in a place of decadence in a long time. Here on Orion the people had options that the people on earth didn’t. While those on our home planet were condemned to starvation and radiation poisoning, people over here were living great. There were a lot of options for food that I felt were too much. Seafood, burgers, chinese, thai, indian. All of the cultures from earth were preserved here on the main strip. I decided on getting some beef Lo-mein at the restaurant called Last Breath (最后一口气). The sign looked the coolest and I had never had Chinese food before. Yeah that sounds crazy right, that I’d never had chinese food? I swear.

I went inside and sat down for a bite and it was not even five minutes after I placed my order that I received my food - the chefs were fast and they were skilled. The interior of the restaurant was very elegant but they didn’t have a lot of business. There were so many other restaurants that I guess ate up a lot of the competition. Eating there was definitely the right choice. I got the food and It was probably the best meal I had ever had in my entire life.

I had to say something about it. I got up and said to the man behind the counter 'This was the best food I’ve ever had, my compliments to the chef. I’ll definitely be coming back.' He smiled and said he’d pass on my message. As I was leaving he asked.. 'Rilling?' I turned back around and said 'yes'?

He kind of stumbled on his words, I could tell that english wasn’t his first language but It was still pretty easy to understand him. He said 'We heard what you did.. Yesterday. Proud to have you.'

I didn’t expect that. Apparently I was the talk around the town. When I left the restaurant I told myself it wasn’t going to my head. After all, I wasn't there to be propped up as a super-soldier when I clearly knew I wasn’t one, and I didn’t want adoration. I wanted a different path for myself and my life on Orion.

I only wanted to show the other Tatski Hara that I would do anything to protect them. My radio buzzed, it was Fred: 'Okay guys. I have some good news and some bad news. The ‘bad news’ is that we’re going back to the Tyran forest at midnight tonight, 16:00. Make sure you plan accordingly because we’re going right in there, not hanging around the outside. The good news is that the Blitzers aren’t going to be a problem. Rendezvous outside the city at 15:30 for additional briefing on the mission.'

If we were leaving at midnight that meant I could still have some drinks with Liam although I figured I probably shouldn’t. On one hand I didn’t want to leave Liam hanging because I really wanted to know what happened on his mission, what happened to one of my friends. I also knew that drinks weren’t the best way for me to catch up with someone personally. I was a complete bastard if I had too much to drink and I knew I had to keep control over it. Regardless, I decided to keep my word to him. I checked my watch and the time was 9:32. It felt like time was passing slowly. I suppose after so many days on earth it would take more than a week or two before I felt fully acclimated. At home here on a new planet. More hours in the day.

Would I be able to get some quality sleep before the mission was the real question. I decided not to worry about it. At the moment I felt great but the more I started to think about the mission the more I was filled with feelings of war, and that didn’t feel good. I believed that war brought out the best and worst of people but more than anything else war was unforgiving and brutal. I had to prepare for the worst tonight. I just hoped my training was enough. I kept walking with an uneasy feeling in my stomach, like something bad was looming in the distance.

I decided to visit the So Long Gone Saloon where I saw Liam yesterday. As I walked up to the bar I took a look up at bright red neon. The quiet drone of music was leaking out of the saloon. As I approached the doors I took a look at the guy standing next to the door. “How’s it goin, Dale?”. “It’s going alright. My night’s ruined after seeing your ugly mug though.” Dale said. As I opened the door the music blasted me. “She thinks my tractor's sexy” was blasted over the speakers. This place seemed to be the spot, it was crowded and loud, full of energy.

There were more than ten people outside, I had to bump some shoulders to make my way in. Turns out It didn’t actually appear to be a bar but instead a club that had a bar.

I walked in and the place was packed, some women gave me interesting looks when I was there, I was focused on the strippers that were on stage. They had televisions playing which was really cool. I thought televisions were a thing of the past because we didn’t have time for entertainment here but I guess I was wrong. I suppose the Tatski Hara had no time for entertainment. These people however, could do what they wanted day in and day out. Some Tatski Hara had control over the booth in the back left corner of the club but I didn’t know them.

I saw Liam alone at a table to the left so I walked over and shouted 'Hey! Are you busy?' I don’t think he heard me so I tapped him on his shoulder. He turned around and saw me, he was shouting too. It’s the only way you could hear anyone in there.

'Hey! Have a seat man, how are you doing?' I told him 'Good, I just had some of that chinese food from down that way, you know which one I’m talking about?' He nodded 'It's killer. A lot of places here are, this one just happens to be my favorite because they have Fremont on tap.' I smiled at that, It sounded like we had the same favorite beer. It was cool to see him again. I had to ask: 'What happened on your mission?'

He thought about it, then called for a waitress. He asked me ‘What type of beer do you drink?’ I told him I preferred Fremont. When one came over a few moments later he shouted 'Two tall boys, two velocihoptors - No, make that four, two velocihopter two fremont.' Interesting choice, I guess he might have a long story to tell. 'Yeah, it’s a little loud in here but follow the sweet sound of my voice.'

He said 'I was east of here. The water is not water here. The things that live in its depths are vile. I was surprised that we were sent that way to begin with because we had already gathered considerable intel on what resources were over there. There’s nothing valuable for us in terms of resources there. We were only sent to explore and report back on seismic occurrences stemming from the ocean to the east of the peninsula, it was a scouting mission.' The drinks arrived. I took the Fremont, figured It’d be my only drink and I’d be fine for the mission. 'By the way that one you picked is the velocihoptor, although I suppose there was a 50% chance you’d choose it. Anyways.'

He took off his sunglasses. 'Even though it’s loud in here I just thought I’d make a point - the missions are not what's important. Trust me on this, the planet here can work with you or it can work against you, think of it like instant inter-galactic karma.' I was listening closely, I did trust him and I knew this was important.

'The land and ocean here are divine. Nothing here dies without it being deserved. Do you know why we had so many losses in the first gen of Tatski Hara?'

I didn’t say anything.

'It’s because they were ruthless and they killed as many things as they could in pursuit of the resources that we enjoy here in Rou’dan. Yes, glory to Rou’dan. The trillionaires here only allocated the smallest percentage of their resources to the Tatski Hara, yet they reap all the benefits. For every Tatski Hara soldier that dies it's a profit for Caleb and the other trillionaires that he’s close to. It’s pathetic.'

I sympathized with what he was saying but he seemed to be getting off topic. I’m sure there were a lot of things wrong with society on Orion. There were a lot of things that I knew were wrong but I just pushed it all to the side at the time. I asked 'You’re saying that Caleb is corrupt?' Liam said 'Well, yes. We trust all this power in one person and we don’t have any checks and balances. It’s too dangerous, but back to what you asked about the mission.' He took another sip from his glass.

'It was too dangerous to begin with. The ocean here is acidic. The creatures that were birthed from the ocean's conditions have a hunger for flesh.’

‘I could talk all day about the species in the ocean here. We were sent to dive two miles beneath the surface to find an object that was of use to Caleb which was located off the eastern coast of Cyprus. There were a ton of eels and when I say a ton I mean it. It was a terrible location for us.' Something happened right after Liam said this, there was a sudden earthquake that shook the room but only lasted only about three seconds.

It passed just as suddenly and everyone started laughing before getting back to their conversations. I asked Liam 'Was that an earthquake? What was that?' he said 'Yeah we get them here all the time, don’t worry about it. Back to the mission. It was to locate this... Leviathan, something sleeping beneath the water. Caleb had tracked the frequency that it was emitting, He said it was important to find it for study.

When we were diving down to get this energy-dense stone that Caleb identified as the source of the energy waves, I was the only one who could see it. There was an ominous glow of light from the cavern below it, the dark underwater cliffs surrounding the opening. The rest of my team said they couldn’t see it, so I had to go get it. The stone was just floating in the ocean right at the edge of the cavern. I swimmed down to get it, it was probably 20 meters away at that point. As I grabbed it...I heard a sound, like a giant beast moving around in the cavern beneath us.

We all realized that we found the Leviathan. At that moment, I was full of adrenaline and I thought I was going to die. The sound it made instantly made me realize that this thing was capable of ending my life without any effort at all. I didn’t have time to think. We were all caught off guard by a sudden riptide caused by the Leviathan moving. It pulled some of us into the cavern below and some of us out to sea. I was lucky I guess, I was pulled out to sea.

I relied on my instincts, swam parallel to the shore for a mile, praying that I wouldn’t be eaten by any of those megalodons out there. Those minutes were the longest of my life.’ He looked down, close calls with death can change you. It appeared he had been dealing with it well. ‘And I made it back to mission control. Mission accomplished.'

It was a lot to take in. I’m sure he was suffering from some kind of post-traumatic stress but he looked normal to me, still the same old Liam. It sounded like a miracle that he survived. I said 'Hey well I’m glad you’re still alive man. A Leviathan, that’s crazy. Did you see what it.. Was? He took another sip and said ''I’m not sure. Doesn’t matter does it, there’s always something bigger and badder lurking around.' He finished his first beer and checked the glass on the table. I hadn’t gotten to my second beer. He said they were 8%abv which surprised me.

I said: 'That’s true. From what you’ve said it appears the interests of the Tatski Hara are not in line with Caleb’s. Do you know why Caleb thought studying the Leviathan was important?'

Liam responded 'A lot wasn’t included in the mission briefing because it's classified. I could face some violations if news got out that I told you this so.. keep it between us. My guess is that he wanted to study it to find out more about its role in maintaining balance on the planet.'

As he was finishing his sentence, someone surprised us by putting his hands on both of our shoulders. I jumped a little in my seat.

'Hey guys what are we doing here?'

We were caught red handed although I suppose it wasn’t that bad. We were just having a beer or two, not dancing with the strippers. Nevertheless, Liam and I knew we had to play this cool. Liam took the lead and said:

'Just catching up with an old friend, how are you doing Fred?'

They shook hands and Fred responded:

'Oh, I’m good but I’m not so sure you guys are. Drinking before a mission, which Tatski Hara General told you that would be a good idea?'

I was going to say something in our defense but Liam interrupted me 'These are all mine.’ Gesturing with his hands to the seven beers on the table.

‘He’s only had a sip for the flavor. He’s stone cold sober, look at him.'

They both looked at me and I smiled. 'Yep.'

I don’t think that was enough for Fred because he narrowed his eyes and said 'Hm, well I guess there’s only one way to find out. What beers are these?'

I pointed to the amber beer first then the Fremont and said:

'This one’s Velocihoptor and that one is Fremont.'

I think he liked our choices because he took the full glass of Velocihoptor and tried it. 'Hm, not bad. So I think we need to re-evaluate our priorities here, don't you think?' Liam and I nodded. I didn’t want to get thrown off of the mission, I’m not sure if Liam cared as much.

Fred continued: 'Okay so you two are going to meet me at 0700 outside the city, don’t worry I’m not going to tell anyone about this if you show up. If you don’t, then we have a problem.'

He turned to leave but stopped and turned back around.

'Actually on second thought, Liam you have been through enough and you don’t have to come.' He patted him on the shoulder with one of those bear paws he called hands and then made a graceful exit with the other glass of Velocihoptor.

Man that could have been way worse. Liam and I exchanged wide-eyed looks. He asked me 'Fred’s a C.O. now?'

I nodded.

'He was promoted like I was before we left for Orion.'

Liam shrugged and said: 'Well okay then. Good thing he caught himself, he thought he was giving an order to me but I outrank him. I didn’t want to deal with that.

So many Tatski Hara here lack respect and skipped too many ranks. Usually they don’t know who the fuck they’re talking to but at least he realized. Well, now that he’s gone...I’m glad he didn’t pick the Fremont.'

We laughed, caught up a little more about our separate departures from earth. I quickly realized that the beers we were drinking were getting me tipsy. We talked more about society and other things for a little while before Liam pointed to my arm and asked:

‘That’s your device huh? What’s that do?’

I set my arm on the table which was a mistake, I just wanted to show him that it was obsidian. I lifted my arm up immediately and saw I scratched the table about a million times just by setting my arm down. ‘Fuck, well this is just my obsidian arm man. Apparently it’s sharp as hell. I haven’t figured it out completely but I do know that it changes density based on the energy it’s absorbed. That includes sunlight, I found that out this morning.’

He coughed a little and said 'That’s pretty cool, doesn’t seem to be particularly useful as I see it, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out. My device is a set of goggles. They can zoom in and out like binoculars and the interface is amazing. It responds to my thoughts and will let me know if there are creatures nearby. I left it back with my stuff so that one of these people wouldn’t try and steal it.’

We both took another sip of beer and then he continued on:

‘You know I may have said Caleb is corrupt, but these goggles… I think these goggles saved my life. I was the only one who could see that stone resting on the underwater crevice. So let me walk that back. Caleb saved my life and who knows? Maybe that thing on your arm will save yours. That guy may be corrupt but his intelligence is fucking insane man. In a good way.’

I laughed and said 'I’ll take your word for it. I haven’t met him yet.’

Liam looked down at our empty beer glasses for a few seconds then looked at me: ‘So…. You want to do some shots?’ The alcohol in my system was probably why I said yes.

Liam called over the waitress and asked her for a tray of shots. She was pretty good looking and friendly, but when I looked at the other women in the club I thought of Jess.

Thought I had to figure that out. Liam looked like he was getting sick but he told me:

‘I got pneumonia when I was swimming back to shore. Or something else. It kinda sucks that’s why I’m drinking it away.’

Then the waitress came back with the tray of shots, it held 12 shots.

I said ‘Hey man, I thought you meant one or two shots. I can’t be drinking half of these right now.’

He laughed and said 'Well you gotta live it up while you’re alive! You see the holograms across the city that display the recently deceased Tatski Hara members? My entire team was displayed on those and I wasn’t even here to see it.’

He picked up a shot of vodka in his hand and raised it to me. I picked up my own and after the clink of the glass signaled good times, we drank. That shot burned. At that point it became one of many contests I participated in with Liam to see who would black out first. We drank shot after shot, talking about memories and laughing. He even grabbed the waitress by the waist with one arm and she pushed off of his head right away. That part was funny.

When we could barely speak or keep our eyes open Liam stumbled on almost every other word when he said to me:

‘Well we can catch up more later. I’ll see you Joseph, have fun with Fred at 0700.’

With that we both left the bar in the worst shape we’ve ever been on Orion, stumbling our separate ways down main street to the laughter of the bystanders.

I fell down right away, not able to identify a step off of the curb. Liam looked back at me laughing and then he fell over too. That was my favorite memory of Rou’dan.

The temperature was cooling down and the sun wasn’t shining as bright then. The Tatski said it never really rained here, only twice a year. I didn’t know what Fred was going to have us do later. Well, Liam could choose not to show up but I thought there was the slimmest chance he would, even if he was sick. I had a feeling it would be a punishment but I wasn’t certain because after all Fred did take a beer for himself.

I didn’t know how to fill my time but I knew worrying about my punishment wouldn’t be productive so I just sat down at one of the public tables and looked at my arm, determined to learn more about it. The device popped off and fell to the ground as a triangle stone - making a loud thud.

I picked it up with both of my hands and the device changed again. It levitated just out of my grasp. I was so drunk I didn’t think it was real. It morphed into a sphere, then a series of other things. It turned itself into a miniature blitzer that was ten inches tall instead of ten feet tall, then a triangle, an obelisk, and then a tesseract. Its rate of change accelerated until eventually my eyes just couldn’t keep up.

There wasn’t an animal I recognized that it didn’t turn into. I was bewildered about what had just happened. It morphed into a bright white light as it reached its maximum speed. With a pop the light flashed outward. I closed my eyes. Once it was done all I saw on the table was a pair of running tights. I fell backward onto the table. Why running tights? I just hoped the device wasn’t broken. I sighed and burped at the same time. Then I took them and left for my dormitory where I could sober up.