The Commander

by Kevin Groh

  She did not feel offended and quietly looked at the equipment and plans lying around, which were not quite so secret, while Magnus disappeared with his son for a few moments. Carter was more than curious, so they stepped up to a secured metal door, which he opened by retina scan and voice analysis. Behind it, there were more work tables with chunks of synthium. »Back then, when I first analyzed synthium, I found out after long testing that heat was spreading across the entire surface of the material at lightning speed. This allows it to withstand very high temperatures. But if you heat it evenly everywhere, you can shape it.

  We’ve developed this technique further because processing it under heat creates cracks at the molecular level that weaken the material. In the meantime, we’ve managed to do better, but it’s not perfect yet. With vibration there are no cracks and already existing damage ... how can I explain that ... it’s like they ›heal‹. There’s no other way to describe it. Synthium doesn’t behave quite like metal ... it sometimes seems more like organic material. It’s a very strange thing. Anyway, we were so busy with the heat technology that we completely ignored the fact that other external influences could also be tested. For example, I found out that cold has a completely different effect. It doesn’t spread like heat, it doesn’t spread at all. It’s like the surrounding molecules isolate the cold and keep it away from the rest of the material.«

  He pointed to a lump of metal on dry ice, but the surface was at room temperature. Carter laughed in surprise when he touched it.

  »That’s incredible!«, he found.

  Magnus continued: »That’s not all. I tried to apply electricity in the form of voltage. I wanted to know if it was conductive. But instead of conducting the current or isolating it, the molecules seemed to crystallize somehow. The surface became granular and rough. Because the material has natural flexibility, this effect creates an armor layer that is harder than anything I have ever seen. Harder than titanium, harder than star metal.«

  He took an old pistol with bullets and fired at a chunk with two cables hanging from it. The bullet splintered. »But the most incredible thing is this!«, he continued, pointing to a glass container filled with a kind of fog. »In the glass, there is space mist. It is sometimes called Iom gas. It contains a special kind of radiation, which is emitted by the fine particles in it. The T’zun call it ›aurora radiation‹.«

  He opened the container and with a pair of pliers, he grabbed something that Carter couldn’t see. As soon as it was far enough from the glass, a synthium cuboid gradually appeared. When he put the cube back in the mist, it seemed to disappear.

  »The radiation seems to cause a kind of spectral shift in the synthium. It actually becomes invisible!«

  They were amazed at his incredible discoveries. »As much as we know about the synthium, as much we don’t know yet. It is the most fascinating thing I have ever explored in my life. Not even the Salvani know anything about it. Even the T’zun have very little to offer.«

  Carter said: »These discoveries ... I’m not sure if humanity is ready for such power. Corruption, greed, hatred and racism ... that could be unimaginably devastating.«

  Magnus nodded. »And now you understand why I didn’t keep any records. Everything I know about it is in here.«, he said, pointing to his head.

  »And as soon as I’ve learned enough, I’ll destroy the evidence and make sure no one in the company performs such attempts. Vibration is considered useless in the records and electricity is considered too dangerous and prohibited due to the potential conductivity of the metal. I made sure of that.«

  »Then why the experiments? Had you simply not tested any further, there would not have been any risk of anyone discovering.«

  »Someday someone else would have come up with the idea and that someone might be less worried about the future. My name has the most weight when it comes to synthium. When I say that an experiment is too dangerous or hasn’t produced any results, nobody doubts that.«

  He led him out of the room and locked it again. Then he went to a table and closed some files with the project name ›DPM‹. »I’ll tell you about it if it works.«, he explained when he noticed their interested looks. He smiled like a little child who had a secret.

  They left the office and went to the helipad on the roof. Three security guards waited there and flanked them as they boarded the helicopter. It was a comfortable business helicopter already equipped with new twin rotors. He stood on blades that retracted when the helicopter took off. The pilot’s window had an integrated HUD, which displayed the measured values and status data of the vehicle. The body was completely closed and automatic gullwing doors provided access. A short tail fin was present, but it had no rotor. Two round metal discs were mounted at the top, in which the two main rotors revolved. The discs could be tilted separately and the vehicle turned horizontally without the need for a tail rotor. They got in and as the doors closed, which had no windows, a holographic version was activated, which transmitted the outside images in HD8, or OctaHD, via camera transmission. The eightfold high-resolution images were state-of-the-art and hardly affordable. The chopper took off and flew only a few roofs further and much lower. There they landed on a smaller landing area.

  They got off and the three security men always stayed nearby. They walked over a modern bridge to the neighboring building, where there was a rooftop restaurant. It was a luxurious place in which the management of several companies enjoyed their lunch break. The floor was lined with wood and the furnishings were tastefully decorated in a rustic retro style. Little light metal and many round surfaces. They sat down at a reserved table and enjoyed an excellent lunch. They talked for a long time, although Leena avoided Magnus‹ personal questions. »Please excuse me if I come too close. I’m just curious about your story. You know, Carter was always more of a loner. Even as a little boy he never had many friends. His mother worried about it a lot.« His son looked tortured.

  Magnus puffed amusedly: »Don’t worry, I didn’t want to tell embarrassing stories. No, I wanted to say that you were rather a quiet and clever boy. The few friends you had over the years were always somehow special. I mean ... what was the name of this autistic person? Marc? You were the only one who seemed to understand him. And Tanya, the little dancer. You had a crush on her, but not because she was pretty. She was, no question, but you always said that you were fascinated by her nature. She was a very mature child and you liked that. And then there was Howard the nerd. That’s what he was called, wasn’t he? He originated from the working class and he was very smart and ambitious. He made it to the school of the privileged because of his achievements. After he graduated there, nothing was heard from him again.«

  Turning to Leena, he continued: »But no matter who he brought home, they were all special. That’s why I’m so curious about you. If Carter likes you, you must have something about you that no one else has. My son sees things in people that they often can’t even see for themselves.«

  She looked at Carter, who consciously looked away and focused on his plate. After dinner, they took a guided tour through Syntech’s development for Leena. The production was not in New Denver and there was not enough time to fly there.

  In the evening they were back at the base because they had no plans for Sunday.

  Leena asked Carter: »What do you think you saw in me?«

  »I don’t know. It’s nothing I could name. I am attracted to some people because I feel that they are important to me. There’s no logical explanation, it’s just like that.«

  Leena seemed satisfied with the answer for the time being and Carter dedicated himself to a new book.

  The Burden of the Recruit

  Time flew by, but the discipline exercises were hell over and over again. Gradually they began to understand why Banes was called the torturer. In addition to the normal sports program, close combat training and discipline training, endurance training was added. Every morning they warmed up with the regular morning sports and afterward Clemm ran up and
they had to follow him. Sometimes they jogged, sometimes he let them sprint. They were often asked to sing motivational songs, as they had seen for the first time on the day of their arrival. Kelly had a bad day and Henry wasn’t the best athlete. He was so exhausted that he threw up next to the main building. Kelly’s legs gave way and she fell. When Clemm yelled at them to keep running, they refused because they simply couldn’t do it anymore. As a punishment, they had to spend the following night outside without sleeping things. To make matters worse, it rained heavily that evening. Urma stood next to Carter when they were sent out of the dorm and she said:

  »They can consider themselves lucky that there are no seasons on Utopia like on Earth. If something like this happened in winter when there was snow, it would be hell. This way they just get wet.«

  Carter sat at the window that evening and looked out. He discovered Kelly and Henry standing soaked to the bone in semi-darkness looking for shelter. He really wanted to go out and bring her a blanket or a raincoat. Leena also looked angry, but she had to come to class in her underwear only a few days ago because she wasn’t downstairs in time. She didn’t need another punishment.

  Carter couldn’t stand the sight any longer. He marched down to the dorm and grabbed Kelly’s and Henry’s rain jackets, which they hadn’t been allowed to take with them. The others looked at him with big eyes and even Roderick seemed to have some respect. As soon as he was outside and had discovered the two, Banes came around the corner.

  »Gotcha, buddy! I figured someone would try to resist the punishment, but I expected Whittaker. Apparently, you didn’t internalize your discipline either. We’ll fix that. If you want to be with them so much, then, of course, I’ll fulfill your wish. You can also sleep out here.«

  He tore the jackets out of his hand and walked away. Carter saw Leena standing at the window and shrugging her shoulders sympathetically because she couldn’t help. Since there was nothing else to do, he joined Kelly and Henry. She asked compassionately: »Why did you do that? It was clear that they would catch you. Even if they hadn’t, it would have been our end tomorrow if they had seen us with jackets ...«

  Henry defended him: »He only meant well. Thanks for trying, Carter! But unfortunately, we’re all in the same boat now ...«

  »A boat wouldn’t be bad right now.«, Carter ironically returned through the rain to cheer them up.

  »I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to blame you ... you were just trying to help. That was pretty brave.«

  She hugged him. This hug was rewarding enough for Carter. »We’ll never sleep in the rain.«, Henry said, fatefully admitting.

  The only place where they could lie halfway soft was the meadow on the drill ground. Carter suggested taking refuge under the big tree. There the rain didn’t come down quite as hard. They sat there, but it had been raining all day and even there it was wet and dripping on their heads. Completely tired they tried to lie down. Henry preferred to remain seated and wanted to sleep leaning against the tree. Since they were all completely soaked, they froze quite a bit. Kelly trembled and Carter crawled to her and put his arm over her to warm her. He felt her waiting motionless for what he was doing. Not moving and not trying to touch her, she decided to trust him and cuddled her back to him. It didn’t help much, but at least a little. Carter took care to turn his pelvis away from her so that no embarrassing situation arose. That’s not how he had imagined sleeping next to her for the first time.

  The drops fell constantly on his forehead, which kept him awake. Henry had fallen asleep and Kelly also slept because Carter shielded her head with his hand. If he couldn’t rest anyway, he at least wanted her to sleep.

  The night seemed like an eternity to him and at some point, the rain stopped. This allowed him to fall asleep after a while, but not very long, as Clemm passed by shortly afterward and woke them up. They all got up and dragged their aching bones into the dorm. The clothes had dried by breakfast. Kelly looked at him the whole time. While eating, she asked him: »Did you get any sleep? It stopped raining pretty fast.«

  Jane said: »No, actually it didn’t stop until around five.«

  »Why was my head dry then?«

  Carter wondered if he should tell her. He wanted to so that she would like him, but he didn’t want to look like someone seeking her appreciation.

  »I couldn’t sleep and since I didn’t want you to be so dead tired today, I shielded your face. But that is not worth mentioning! As I said, I couldn’t sleep anyway ...«

  He mumbled something incomprehensible and then was quiet.

  Kelly seemed to come to terms with how much he had tormented himself for her. Her gaze had become soft. He wondered whether he could see affection or interest in it. It was clear to him that he was probably telling himself that because he wanted it to be that way. Kelly kissed him on the cheek and breathed: »That was very sweet of you, Carter. Thank you.«, then she took away her tray. Leena grinned at him from the side, but he lingered for a moment and felt the pressure of Kelly’s lips on his face. The rest of the day was fortunately without physical education, just some general human studies with Commander Dalton. In the evening he fell into bed right after dinner.

  The endurance run the following morning was as bad for Henry as the day before, but instead of stopping, he vomited while running this time and walked slowly afterward. This slowed the group down, but Clemm couldn’t punish him.

  Roderick was once again in the process of hitting on Leena. He tried it less clumsy and with more words, but she was not interested anyway. She gave him one of her tough returns and kept running. Carter had to smile because he found her rough nature amusing. Unfortunately, Roderick saw that and confronted him:

  »You think this is funny, don’t you? Probably you’re the reason she won’t let me talk. You and your great room. I know you both go out on weekends!«

  »So what? Since when is that forbidden? And apart from that, I’m not interested in Leena. We are friends, nothing more. If she rejects you, then she has her own reasons. So don’t put your frustration on me just because you blame me for some problem from your past!«

  A hard blow to the stomach made Carter gasp and bend forward. Then a blunt pain exploded on the side of his head and he was knocked over and lay disoriented on the floor. He couldn’t do much more than remain still and hope that he would soon be able to get up again. As he sat up after a while, he saw Henry, Tim, and Nambur keeping Roderick away from him. That worked and he ran away angrily. Jane and Urma helped Carter on his feet and Kelly said: »What the hell was that? Has he lost it?«

  Leena looked guilty. »I’m sorry, Carter ... I must have upset him.«

  Clemm came around the corner and just saw Carter wiping the dirt off his jacket. The others told him what had happened and he steamed off to find Roderick. He was then forced to spend three days in a cell.

  The weeks after that, they had more theoretical lessons. They were sitting in the classroom and Annie was pacing up and down in front of the desk while she was talking.

  »We now leave the history of humans, instead we start with the Pintan species. Of course, Nambur is our best source, but we start with the basics. But you are welcome to contribute if you want to give us more knowledge, Nambur.«

  He nodded and the hologram showed a gray-brown planet. »What you see here is the world of Pinta, called ›Earth Clone‹ by many. It lies in the Aeon-Width, more precisely in the Zith-System. There are some planets orbiting the star Zith. It is a Class 2 star and it resembles the Sun in many respects, but the radiation it emits is not UV radiation as on Earth, but EF radiation. It is the reason for the different skin tone of the Pintans. There are four planets in the system. The innermost is called Rendos, a very hot world where there is a lot of lava and hot gases, so no life is possible. Second comes Zulath. This is a rocky world where a large part of the Initiative’s military is located. The Pintans proudly support the efforts in the numerous barracks there. At the very edge of the system is Niha, a gas giant that also has a re
fueling station for spaceships. Well and between Niha and Zulath lies Pinta. As you can see, the planet already has some optical differences to Earth. Pinta has sixty-five percent of landmass and very little water. Almost half of the land consists of pointed mountains, which are not suitable for settlement due to the climate. Therefore, a large part of the population lives underground. There are gigantic cave systems in which highly engineered cities are located. The oceans are not blue as on Earth but in a brown tone. This is also due to the star Zith. Nambur, can you perhaps tell us how your people live beneath the mountains?«

  The one addressed seemed pleased to talk about his homeland.

  »But gladly! In the early days, my people lived on the free plains or the low-lying mountains. When the population increased, that had to change. There was a very bad time back then, which in our culture is called the time of the deep. At that time, a covenant of tyrants ruled the world, forcing many of the less wealthy Pintans to dig and carve vast caves. Of course, they were expanded later, but about two-thirds of all underground tunnels were constructed at that time by enslaved workers. Through the long years under the mountains and without zithlight our skin became greenish, which led to discrimination in later ages. The first and most famous cave is in the Tennoravia region. This is also the origin of the frowned upon swearword ›Tenno‹ for Pintans with green skin.«

  Billy asked: »Why didn’t you build upwards instead? At some point, you must have developed the technology.«

  »That’s because of the weather on Pinta. Near the ground, it’s comparable to your climate on Earth, although a little warmer. But already in a hundred meters height, there is much more wind and on mountain heights, storm weather rages permanently. In addition, the weather on Pinta changes very quickly and mostly in extremes. To shield a building against storms and all weather conditions in such a way would be possible today, but the expenditure is far above that to build it simply below the mountains. Especially since food and drinking water would also have to be delivered from there.«