Tobias smiles widely. He knows he’s won.

I take my knife off his throat and hide it back in my sleeve.

“How much will I get paid?” I ask, suddenly nonchalant as I sit back down.

“100 grand for every month, for the rest of your life.”

I nod in appreciation. That’s some pretty good money.

“So all you want me to do is get this Aether stuff. One thought though, I’m an assassin and a thief, not a miner.”

“No no no, you won’t be mining anything. You’ll be stealing the Aether from other competitors of mine. I will run the mining operation, but I’m also creating a crack team that can defend my gains. All of the other’s will be doing this as well.”

“And why is there a need to defend anything. Don’t tell me your going to be fighting your own company out there.”

“Well it wouldn’t be much of a game if the only thing happening was people running around and drilling up Aether. No, Hope has already been scanned for its pockets of Aether and getting it out of the ground will be simple enough. The real game is the battles that are fought for the land.”

I scoffed, leave it to the rich old bastards to come up with a war game on an alien planet.

“You know it would have been much easier if you just hired mercenaries that weren’t in hiding.” I say.

Tobias responds by reaching into his pocket and producing a chip. One of those digital gizmos with a mess of metal parts.

“Meet the Apex Corporation’s newest innovation, the Implant.”

“Creative name you got there. Do I put it in a computer or something?”

“No, you won’t be putting it anywhere. Instead, a surgeon will place it in your brain.” He says with mock bravado.

I eye the chip again.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Tobias ignores my apprehension.

“With the Implant, Apex can create super-soldiers. Reaction times, memories, thoughts, calculations, movements, and much more will become better, efficient, and streamlined. The only downside, the Implant is only compatible with the growing brains of teenagers like yourself.”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

I was 16 and immediately regretting it. Tobias continues.

“Each competitor gets eight implants, as they are incredibly expensive and hard to create.”

The car starts to slow and I look out the window. We were outside of a rocket launch site.

I spin around to face Tobias.

“We’re leaving now?”

“No time like the present Silver. The game started today and it takes a full year to fly to Hope. That gives us a round trip of two years and one year of mining time.”

The door opens and Tobias steps out with me close behind. The launch area is a mess of people running about. The ship itself looks like a giant building made of dark metal. Tobias leads me into the spaceship. The inside is a mess of corridors and tunnels which Tobias leads me through.

We eventually stop in a room. Inside lies racks of guns, weapons, and futuristic jumpsuits.

“Change into a jumpsuit and pick out some weapons. The jumpsuit and weapons have Hopium incorporated into them.”

I walk over to the jumpsuit and run my hands over it. Then I looked at the weapons. Guns of all kinds lined the wall and an assortment of swords, blades, axes, and whatever other medieval weapon were arranged on a table.

“Isn’t it dangerous to give guns to people on a rocket?”

“They’re only temporary. Once you’re done changing, come out of the spaceship the way we came from. There’s a little surprise I have planned for you.”

Tobias leaves and I turn back to the racks of weapons. I won’t say no to weapons, but something doesn’t feel right about him just handing them to me.

Whatever, it’s either play along or face the consequences.

I quickly change into the jumpsuit. Then I survey the handgun section of weapons. I choose the grab two Apex Zephyrs, pistols that I had preferred in my past.

I was trained to be able to shoot with most guns, but give me a sniper and a pistol and I’ll be all good.

I moved to where the snipers were held but immediately feel disappointed. Tobias was only providing Apex’s guns, and while I liked their handguns, I had other preferences when it came to sniper rifles.

I grab an Apex Reaper and move on to the knife section. I grab some throwing knives, three combat knives, and their respective sheathes.

With that I decide that I’m as prepared as I will be and leave the ship. As I walk back out into the launch zone, a worker guides me to a warehouse a few hundred feet away from the launch zone.

Inside the warehouse, 31 other jumpsuit wearing youth stand around talking. Some glance my way when I enter but most are too busy talking amongst each other to notice.

A feeling of dread appears in my stomach. There’s 32 people here, but Tobias said that he only got eight implants. Then I look down at my holstered pistols. He couldn’t be that sadistic, right?

I look around the rest of the warehouse. The jumpsuit wearing people were being herded around the entrance, which is located in the corner of the facility. In the center, a forest of stone trees forms a circle. Off one of the walls, a glass booth projects out over the stone tree forest.

Inside, sits Tobias. As I watch him, he reaches out and grabs a microphone. Soon, his voice sounds over an intercom.

“You all know why you’re here.”

Tobias’s voice sounds almost…excited.

“You are the chosen few who have been selected to be my representatives in the upcoming battle for Apex. Each of you know the reward for participation.”

Some of the others around me lick their lips and nod their heads. They stand straighter, eyes widen, and grin madly.

“Unfortunately, not everyone is fit for space exploration.”

Worry suddenly begins to spread among the jumpsuit clad youth.

“Servants will be coming out and putting you into groups of four.”

On cue, men and women in suits walk out and begin putting people into groups. I’m placed with a golden-haired girl with enough makeup to be on television, a purple-haired pretty boy who looked good and knew it, and finally a beefy boy with black-haired buzz cut. The servant led us to the edge of the forest before turning back and leaving.

“So what’s your name? I’m Michael by the way.” The pretty boy asks makeup girl.

“It’s Vanessa.” The girl curtly replies.

“I must say, your hair is amazing looking. I thought my hair was good but your hair is ten times better.” Michael continues.

“Thanks.” Vanessa replies.

This continued on and on. Meanwhile, beefy boy and I remained silent. I noticed that Vanessa was holding an assault rifle awkwardly, as if she wasn’t trained. Michael meanwhile was waving around a sword like an idiot. Could Tobias have chosen people who didn’t know how to fight? The beefy boy at least held a shotgun with some degree of ease, but was that experience, or naivety.

Tobias’s voice came back over the intercom.

“All groups, please enter the stone forest.”

We all step into the forest. It’s not a very dense forest, enough space to shoot through, but not ideal. I draw my pistols.

“There are currently 32 of you.”

Tobias pauses.

“I only want 16.”