Dawn of Hope- Exodus

by Dobrin Kostadinov

  ‘This, my friends, is the last model we’ve developed. Humans can really build wonders. You’ll be untouchable in it. It has a built-in microprocessor technology that helps you aim at targets. It also calculates with great accuracy movements such as approaching spinning strikes or rectilinear movements during battle. Liberate your minds. All you have to do is be brave, leave the rest to the suit,’ Jean-Pierre kept giving endless explanations. ‘The NSRs function as connectors between your consciousness and the suit. The exoskeleton is equipped with hydraulic cylinders that will direct your movements. And remember, you control everything, the machine merely makes you stronger and more precise than ever. The inside of the suit is lined with a constant temperature maintenance system. Whether it will keep you cool or warm depends on the conditions and the way you use it. All this aims at providing the reliable functioning of every single element of the suit and your personal comfort while using it. Moreover, it is fitted with an innovative power unit which can last for quite some time–between five and seven days in normal operation mode: 20 hours in intense work mode, like a marathon for example, and about 15 hours in a fierce battle. When the battery gets completely drained, it will be extremely difficult for you to move because of the weight of the suit, so you should be careful not to leave it uncharged. It is charged when plucked into the electric grid. The electrical energy storage battery is in a bump on your backs and it contains many other important parts: pumps, compressors, microprocessor technologies and even a high-power mini water jet propulsion system. You’ll need food and water, that’s inevitable. The bare essentials will be available. It will still be you, but on a different evolutional level, it’s our own deed performed in the present time.’ The trainees kept looking, unable to believe neither their ears, nor their eyes as Alléguié would not stop delivering his presentation. ‘As you can see there is armor as well, it’s solid enough. It’s made of titanium alloy mixed with a certain amount of zirconium, vanadium and cobalt. Hence its bronze-reddish color with faint tinges of grey, astonishing, isn’t it? It’s an incredibly light and strong material, in modern times we use it to cover those parts of shuttles that undergo extreme burning during landing. With armor like this one even .50 won’t hurt you and the curious bit is that with time it regenerates like human skin, only that it happens a hundred times faster . . . So, shall we start the simulation?

  The team members were all gaping, unable to look away from the picture before their eyes. Who had ever heard or seen such a thing before? Exoskeleton suits built to protect people during battle and to give them physical advantage had been previously developed, but it was only at that point in time that their enormous capacity was fully revealed. Incredible, but true!

  ‘I have to warn you about something, though. Putting the suit on is rather painful and unpleasant. As you slip it on three injections hidden in it get activated. Once stuck in you, they inject you with nanobots. In this way they connect to your nerve system and transfer commands from your consciousness to the suit. Those miniature organisms also enter your bloodstream and remain there having a single function to perform, that is to serve you tirelessly. It’s just the beginning that’s painful, until you get used to it, but you’re tough and you can handle it.’

  ‘Can you promise us that our organisms won’t reject those symbiotic robots?’ Liu ventured to ask first.

  ‘Indeed, they’re absolutely harmless and adapt to the environment they’re put in,’ Jean-Pierre replied.

  ‘It’s all gonna be all right despite the pain, you’re saying,’ Alan followed suit.

  ‘Yes, absolutely, please come, put them on and see for yourselves,’ the Frenchmen encouraged even though the five were still looking at the suits from a distance.

  After the scientist assured them, the five decided to take the plunge for the sake of the mission. The first time they slipped the suits on was difficult, the machines were heavy, tough to the touch and not really all that mobile mostly because no one had ever been placed inside of them before and they had not been activated. They had to use a special opening in the chest and the stomach of the suit in order to get in. That took some technique that was demonstrated to them by a few members of Jean-Pierre’s team. They were lying down as they got into the suits and it took the machines ten seconds to inject the five with the NSRs. What followed were shouts and screams of agony, tumbling down from the table to the ground and such strong convulsions that the five stared digging up the soil they were on. Soon after all that had passed away. They stood up slowly, one by one, instilling awe and emanating determination to face danger.

  ‘For a second I thought I was going to be killed. You didn’t lie about the pain, not at all,’ Hiroshi shared, shaken by the experience. Right after he said that, he felt he was drifting off, just like the way one does it moments before one is administered a general anesthesia. He closed his eyes slowly, he felt weak, he felt he was about to collapse to the ground, but something kept him up on his feet. As he kept on drifting off and supposedly falling asleep, in contrast with the painful injections, the most important experiences in his life flashed before his eyes. Every single childhood memory, every single moment of his friendship with Liu, every single lecture at the university, his conversations with his family that had always given him strength to go on. For a few seconds everything resurfaced in his mind, the memories were so clear as though they had happened the day before. As the effect of the semi-sleep wore off, he opened his eyes and saw the rest of the team, standing before him, looking the same way as he did, completely stiff. The very same thing had happened to them.

  ‘What’s going on, Jean-Pierre, is that normal, I was about to pass out and a few moments before that everything I’ve ever been through flashed before my eyes. It was as if I was dying!’ Hiroshi shared.

  ‘It’s absolutely normal, that’s exactly what I was trying to explain to you a while ago, it’s still you, but an upgraded version. Everything you’ve just experienced comes as a result of the additional brain stimulation the suit provides. It transmits a low-voltage electric charge to the neurons in your brains which are responsible for the short-term and long-term memories. Now you have clear recollections of the key moments of your life paths and you can access them the same way a computer has access to all the files saved on its disk. This was my idea, I decided to stimulate a part of the brain called the hippocampus or the cornu Ammonis[5] as it is also known. More memories will come back flooding you, both good and bad, and you’ll see them as clear as a day. Everyone knows that experience is rooted in the past and when one is ready to accept and take stock of it, one’s future could become equally immortal, remaining forever sealed in time. It was a big risk on my part, but that’s why we ran some tests on you–you’re healthy, both physically and mentally. I created those wonder-working extras with a single purpose–for them to be of service to you; what is expected of you is to simply keep being the people you have been so far. The combination of the two will turn you into heroes.’ After that startling declaration the five slipped into examining themselves and their comrades. Ivanov was observing them from the sidelines, smiling a faint smile that remained invisible behind the helmet. He knew what they were going to feel as he had already been exposed to the same sensations. How odd would it be to see five humanoid robots, knowing that they are in fact your teammates? Added to that, when you look at your arms and legs, you see you are actually no different. Not every person could stand to watch that, at least not calmly. But the six received unimaginable power and they had to learn how to wield it and also how to take responsibility for the changes in their personalities . . .

  ‘Cool suties we’ve got, right, Liu? Let’s try and see what they can do, won’t we?’ he said and took a look at his arms and at Hiroshi’s legs. He felt overly powerful at the idea of how he looked on the outside. And by watching the others he could already picture himself…

  The impenetrable body they had entered into had numerous functions. An additional something was attached to
the forearms and the legs. Oddly enough, this “extra” something, in the scientist’s own words, was actually cold steel weapons that could fold out and at the same time turn into triangle shields and instruments for cutting and maiming. The five did not look like human beings, but rather like creatures from another planet. After the presentation they were led out for a field test of the abilities of their new acquisitions. They found themselves in a vast field outside the air base that had a few trees growing at the center. Out of precaution, the six were taken to an army range, they immediately recognized their whereabouts and studied the surrounding area on the go. The sun was blazing down and the spring was already giving way to the scourging summer days. It was quiet, only the songs of the birds could be heard in the distance and the light wind that stroked the armor of the suits, moaning with a barely audible muffled sound. Things, though, were not as they seemed to be. They felt it. At that moment their skills that were to come as a result of the suits’ functions were about to be tested.

  ‘Are you ready?’ the Frenchman yelled while everyone was staring at him stunned.

  ‘Ready for what?’ Mila called out.

  Jean-Pierre opened a trap-door covered with leaves and hidden in the bushes where Zanev, his assistants and he himself could hide; Roman’s watchful eye was following every movement.

  ‘To do what you do best,’ he said, his back turned to them, but he threw them a backward goodbye glance. Then he jumped in and latched the trap-door tightly so that nothing from the outside world could get in.

  The six stood there benumbed, not daring to move, they did not even talk to one other. Tom had no idea what was to happen, but suspected that what awaited them there, on the distant hill, would be something scary and it hardly mattered if that was just practicing or not. Scott felt weird because the fear fostered by his suspicions was not present. He had adopted a proud, upright stance, ready to take action, together with his fellow teammates, and face every possible threat, ready to even be the one to make the first step, and, if he had to, die to save his brothers! He turned his head right slowly and saw the Colonel begin to slide down the triangle armor, attached to the outside of his forearms, towards his wrists. Thus on the level of his arms formed two large blades, sharpened like a katana[6], 12 inches wide at the upper end around the elbow and narrowing until it formed an acute angle about a span and a half up from the wrists. This way he had a shield and a deadly weapon at once.

  ‘I won’t feel fear while I’m with you. I won’t retreat and I won’t save the pain of our enemies. Terrible shall be the fate of the ill-intentioned. Lead us, Russian, lead us ahead and no backward step shall we take!’ Like never before, Scott showed determination in his actions and resigned to waiting for a command. Thomas heard what the American said, threw him a glance and nodded in agreement. Then the loud cry of the alumnus of Mother Russia followed.

  ‘Quickly! Everyone get to the trees, let’s hide!’ the Colonel called. Everyone rushed to the nearest trees at inhuman speed. They ran so fast that there were clumps of uprooted grass flying around after them. Once they reached their hiding place, they arranged in a battle formation. They formed a circle and right when everything was about to die down, they spotted something in the distance. Something was approaching them. Three vague silhouettes were closing in: one was coming from the air and the other two by ground. The six warriors were ready for the collision. There will be bloodshed, flashed through the heads of each of the team, but they had no time to analyze that in detail. Those three figures were artificial organisms, a military development whose purpose was to build artificially intelligent robots that could be used as future weapons. When the silhouettes began taking shape, it became clear what they actually were. The flying one was a drone so heavily armed that it could bring down an entire neighborhood, the other two had the shape of animals. The shapes of cats. These two land machines, the size of elephants, ran so fast that they even managed to catch up on the drone. Heavy infantry, armed with teeth, gigantic claws and a tail with an arrow-sharp end, ready to sow death in everything programmed to be its target. Merciless killers with animal instincts, but in fact the truth lay elsewhere. They were not wracked with guilt and regret, they did not feel anything and had to do their job the best way they could, they were machines after all. A human invention designed not to create but to destroy. Fearsome and horrifying as they were at first glance, with perfectly programmed movements that even Mother Nature had failed to furnish predators with, nothing animalistic was alien to these machines, even though they sought to resemble Nature despite being a product that had come out of human hands and minds. In reality the people who had invented all that were even more bloodthirsty than their steel brainchildren.

  The predictions of the developers came true for real and the heroes knew what to do then. They had made sure that the symbiosis was not just physical but mental as well. The two Americans stood up against each other and at that moment Liu took some steps back to gain more speed. He crossed himself and rushed forward towards the two cousins. They made a small foothold and once he stepped on it they threw him high up. So high he went that while he was flying up they had time to climb up a tree and hide there. Hiroshi and Mila were waiting for the foot soldier that was coming from their left side. But where had the one on the right gone? The one on the right had already seen Tom rushing in its direction with the armor-piercing qualities of his suit put in action. He strode a little further away from the others so he could compete against the enemy alone. The goal of the Russian was to eliminate the machine soldier and thus help the others. If that artificial organism was capable of feeling human fear, he would not have time to even think about it . . . In the meantime Liu had just landed on the flying drone, instantly clutching at the body of the machine. He proceeded to finding its weak link while the apparatus was flipping over in the air. The two team members who were left on the ground, Hiroshi and Mila, tried to unsettle one of the walking creatures by distracting it with blows in the limbs alternated by quick retreats and new series of blows. Only the Russian Spetsnaz officer plunged into a relentless battle. He made more steps back to gain speed and pounced on the back of the distracted cat-like body. It was a really successful attempt at dressage. A moment after he leapt and settled onto its back, Tom drew himself back at the very last second before being slayed by the tail which both stung like scorpion and wagged in circles ready to cut without a sliver of mercy. The Spetsnaz soldier, though, showed determination. He grabbed it with both his hands, attaching his foot tightly to its steel torso, then he mustered all of his strength and with an effort manage to snap off the tail, putting it out of action. The gigantic homicide was tossing and jumping trying to throw the Russian off, but Tom had grappled with its body and neck. Seconds later he saw, in the region of the neck, cables and small hydraulic cylinders that regulated the movement of the head. None of the developers had thought of covering those parts, which one of them would have considered the possibility of anyone climbing onto the creature they had invented with the intention to ride it? Thanks to that technical error, the Russian took ruthless actions and without a second of hesitation he plunged into tearing and breaking cables and connections. That made the machine lose control over its movements. It fell to the ground and one final strike in the right place in its neck was enough to paralyze it. The winner in the duel mounted off the motionless body, turned around to check up on the others and saw how Scott and Alan were luring the second artificial foot soldier to the tree. After the decoy had worked they pounced on him: one of them got to work on the tail, the other one on the neck, and the rest of the team clutched its two forelegs. They attacked the connectors, cables and hydraulic cylinders with blows, so that they could cripple the machine while it kept tossing and turning on the ground with Mila and Hiroshi thrashing around, dangling from its body. They all had clutched at the aggressor, not letting it free itself from their grip. Soon after it was knocked down. Job well done, but that did not seem to be the end of it. The flying
killer was headed straight towards them and there was nothing that could stop it. It opened fire on them with a machine gun and the fighting suites scattered into different formations, trying to confuse the “bird”. The flying drone turned in their direction while it prepared its rockets for launching. Two shells designed to kill with a technology that used shrapnel pieces dispersal blocked their way. They had almost lost the game when the shells were shot out. The six ran off in different directions. In pairs they zigzagged forward, cutting eights, thus aiming at misleading the rocket, but they failed and the rocket landed exploding a feet away from Mila. The shock wave sent her body about fifty feet forward and upward and then Hiroshi caught her . . .

  Before another attack was launched Liu found a small hatch that was responsible for the emergency power outage of the machine. He managed to peel the coating and pull out a wrist-thick cable. The steel bird lost control and fell on the ground, crashing into a million pieces. Once the smoke had dispersed the Japanese placed Mila in his feet. Thomas immediately rushed up to them and when he reached them, he stooped over the wounded woman and started firing questions at her.

  ‘How are you? Are you all right? Are you hurt?’ With visible concern the questions came out one after the other.

  The blond stirred up a little and saw everyone had gathered around, her compatriot had leaned right over her. The sun had aligned with him and prevented her from seeing a clear image. The light behind his head scattered around it like the halo of an angel. For a moment she took what she saw as a sign she was dead. Mila could hear only the questions full of worry that were drowning in the surrounding silence.

  ‘I’m fine, just still in shock. I need a second,‘ she said remaining on the ground, but it hadn’t been a minute before she made an attempt to stand up. Thomas helped her up and she was already on her feet, safe and sound, and, as if by some miracle, without a scratch. The other team members were slightly taken aback by the overzealous concern the Russian displayed, but Mila found it extremely kind of him.