The Commander

by Kevin Groh

  Carter nodded: »Of course, Rod, whatever you need, buddy.«

  »Thanks, man, this car means everything to me! I must not lose it ... How exactly are you going to help me?«

  He thought: »Well, my father has some vehicles in our underground garage, for which he employs a mechanic. He also has a tow shuttle. I call him and we meet him there. Then he will take the car wherever you want. I can offer to put it up in our house until you find something else.«

  Rod looked relieved: »That would be really great! Could we do that today? I don’t want to annoy you, but I can’t tell how long it will take for these guys to come back ...«

  »No problem at all, I have nothing to do anyway. Come on, let’s get your car before somebody steals it!«

  Rod trotted after him restlessly as Carter ordered the mechanic to Rod’s address and then asked Michael, the driver, to pick him up. While waiting for the shuttle, Rod stepped from one foot to the other. »Why are you so nervous? Do you think those crooks will steal your car out of your garage in the middle of the day?«

  He made ››Pfff‹‹ and said: »Carter, you still live in the world of the privileged. It’s always dark in the working-class neighborhoods and the cops don’t care about things like theft or burglary. Murder is the only thing where they get active.«

  »You mean to say that the workers work hard for years for small wages and when they finally have saved enough for something, they have to fear every single day that it will simply be taken away from them? Completely without the help of the law-keepers?«

  »Why do you think the workers hate the privileged so much? We are better slaves here on Utopia. Murder interests them up there only because it pollutes the streets and because in some shift in the mine there is a worker missing who has to be replaced. They don’t care about us. We have no rights like you.«

  Carter simply did not understand how such injustice could arise. It was completely obvious, but the rich who were not actively involved simply closed their eyes to it. The shuttle picked them up and they flew to the lower levels of New Denver. Michael let them out a bit remotely because Rod’s apartment was in an area that couldn’t be flown over because of the tight buildings. The mechanic’s vehicle had also landed there and was waiting for Carter. He greeted the man and explained the situation to him. Rod had to drive his car to the shuttle to load it up.

  The two went through the narrow alleys to Rod’s booth, where at that very moment three shady figures were messing with the marked gate. Carter pointed to a fourth man who was standing at the stairs to the apartment as a scout. They carried the marks of the son of a bitch Gargan they had beaten the last time.

  He smiled at Rod and waved at him. When he noticed that the guard turned to pick something up, Carter raised his fist and Rod stopped in the middle of his movement. A few days earlier they had learned military hand signals. As soon as the guy looked the other way again, they stalked closer. At that very moment, the gate opened and one of the guys whistled out loud.

  »Not bad Hanky! You were right, this gem is worth a lot. With the profit, we can get drunk for quite a while!«

  Even before Hanky could answer, someone tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned around, he got Carter’s fist in his face and fell to the ground like a wet sack. Rod knocked the second one down with an old plastic box he had picked up. The watchman came running, but before he could even raise his hand, he received a blow from Carter with the edge of the hand against his throat. Gasping, he went to the ground. Rod grabbed the last one by the shirt and lifted him up. Rod was a third taller than the guy and cast a shadow on his face. He didn’t say a word but threw him against the wall of the house, where he slid down unconscious. »These hand signals are actually quite practical!«, Rod remarked with a smile.

  »We arrived just in time ...«, Carter wondered about the criminal act shortly before noon. »Let’s get my baby out of here!«

  Carter stood by the car while Rod searched his belongings and put everything valuable or important in the trunk. He helped him to put his rare tools for internal combustion engines in a box.

  After they finished, Rod looked around the empty garage. »I don’t think I’ll be coming back. Life here was interesting, but it couldn’t have gone on much longer. I’ll think of something when the training is over.«

  »You still have two years to think about it. Luckily we can sleep in the base as long as we are recruits. This means that you have to worry about a new place to stay only afterward.«

  Rod nodded and they got into the fire red car. They took a very winding detour through the rows of houses to arrive at the shuttles.

  The mechanic whistled impressed because he had never seen such a model in real life before. Rod didn’t have to tell the man that this collector’s item had to be handled with great care. He loaded the car into the shuttle as if it were made of glass. They followed him to the estate with Michael in the other vehicle. When Rod saw the building, he by habit wanted to make a snide remark, but he held it back.

  Carter had noticed this and said: »Yes, I know, it’s pretty exaggerated. My father needed a distraction after my mother had died.«

  The floor went down and cleared the way to the garage as soon as the shuttle landed there. There were some old and also some new sports cars in it. Rod got glassy eyes at the sight. »You didn’t mention you had so many rare cars! That’s a ...«

  »Yep.«

  »And that one! Is that a...?«

  »It is.«

  »You don’t seriously have a ...«

  »But I do.«

  Carter smiled at the bewilderment in Rod’s voice. They drove his car to an empty spot further back, where he simply left his things in the trunk. Carter said: »I think your darling is safe from thieves here. It can stay until you find your own place to put it.«

  Rod looked at him seriously: »I can’t tell you how grateful I am to you. You are a good person and a good friend. I feel guilty every day that I treated you so badly.«

  Carter put his hand on his upper arm and said: »I have forgiven you and I can understand you. Now all you have to do is forgive yourself.«

  Rod nodded slowly: »I owe you one. No matter where, no matter when, if you need me, I’ll be there.«

  Carter smiled: »Now don’t be so dramatic. It’s like a movie.«

  Since the two were already there, he showed Rod his apartment. Rod liked the TV very much and he had to grin at the sight of the swords. »Nice! Where did you get it from? I mean, of course, you have money, but I’ve never heard of a shop on Utopia where you can get real swords.«

  »There is none. My sister Zoe sent me the things from Earth. She knows that I love this and every year I get a package for my birthday.«

  »Very awesome!«, he marveled at the bows.

  »That’s the reaction I wanted! Kelly didn’t react quite like that. Also interested, but not as enthusiastic.«

  »You had her here to visit?«, Rod asked with a smirk.

  Carter grinned back: »Oh yes. She was so visiting here.«

  Rod grinned even wider: »And how often was she ... visiting?« The question was so clearly ambiguous that it was already tangible.

  »About four times ...«, he proudly returned.

  »Damn dude! Four times? You animal!«, Rod laughed and they fist-bumped. »But seriously, I’ve been watching you and I have to say, you really go well together. You should see her smile when she looks at you and you don’t notice.«

  »Did you know that Leena also smiles when she looks at you?«

  Rod’s grin was replaced by unbelieving amazement.

  »Really? Don’t fuck with me!«

  Carter shook his head: »I’m not. She won’t admit it, but I think she likes you. She is afraid of commitment and doesn’t want to be dependent. But I’m one hundred percent sure she wants to play your clarinet.«

  Rod grinned all the time. After talking for a while, Carter made sure there was something to eat. Then they spent the rest of the day gaming on the gian
t TV. The next morning they woke up on the sofa where they had fallen asleep playing in the middle of the night. Between them were empty beverage cans, cracker crumbs, and torn half-empty snack packs. And two soaked pizza boxes. It had been a great men’s night, and after breakfast, they checked in on the car before flying back. This weekend Carter and Roderick forged a friendship that would last for a very long time.

  Nirvana

  The following days were quite normal with close combat training and sports. Annie told them more about the economic systems on Utopia and Kova taught them a new programming language. No one had been assigned to services this week, instead, their bracelets only said ›Nirvana‹.

  That was a strange indication, especially when looking up the various meanings of the term. When Friday ended, Drill Sergeant Clemm came to them in the evening.

  »As you may have seen, your duties, as well as your leave this week, have been canceled. The reason for this is the so-called Nirvana exercise, which will last the entire weekend. Tomorrow morning, pack up your gear at the counter and make your way to the airfield, understood?«

  »Sir, yes, sir!«, they replied.

  After he left, they puzzled what was meant by Nirvana. As soon as they were at the hangar the following morning, they found a spaceship there. It had the shape of a shortened boomerang, curved and wide, with a pointed nose. It was quite high as if the ship had a thick belly with green windows. Banes and Dunn were already waiting. They waved them in where they saw three metal ring ways within a spherical dome that grew wider and wider and from which one could gaze out. At the very top, you could see the pilot’s control panel and narrow passages into other parts of the ship. »There is not much space here ...«, Henry stated soberly.

  They distributed themselves on the round ways, while two further groups of recruits entered the spaceship.

  »Three teams this time. That can be something ...«, Kelly murmured.

  After waiting on board for about half an hour, the ship took off and left the base. They saw the terrain and New Denver getting smaller and smaller underneath them. Soon they left the atmosphere of Utopia behind and looked at it in its entirety. A green-blue ball with far less water than on Earth, but it was all freshwater. It only took about three hours for another planet to come into sight. It was a gray world whose actual surface color was not recognizable under the seemingly endless seas of clouds.

  The major said: »What you see here below us is the planet Nirvana. It’s a fog world where it’s permanently dark and unreal. There are some quite dangerous life forms down there and several human outposts. The air is breathable, but it’s not very warm and it doesn’t smell good either.«

  »Fuck no, the whole place smells like cow shit!«, Dunn added unhelpfully. Banes seemed to know her nature well enough not to go into it.

  He continued: »We will equip you right away and then each group will be dropped off at a different location on the planet. In this exercise, you don’t compete against each other, but each troop fights for itself. For each team a distress signal transmitter has been placed, just waiting to be switched on. Between you and the transmitter, there are natural and created obstacles to overcome«.

  Dunn took over: »There are some really bad filthy creatures living down there, that’s why you get real guns for the exercise. That’s also the reason why you don’t compete against each other. We already had a dead man for this year and it should stay that way.«

  »The route to the transmitter is chosen for the earliest you can reach it tomorrow, so you have to spend the night outdoors. Take shelter, otherwise, it can become critical. We monitor the entire operation and there are always rescuers nearby to get you out in case of an emergency. If this happens through your own fault, you’ve lost. The winner is the team that reaches its transmitter first.«, Banes explained.

  Dunn said: »Each group has a commander who is in charge of the entire mission and who the others have to follow. These are Sam Jones, Uhla Kanopis and Leena Whittaker. You three are in command and responsible for the success of the mission. This is a very dangerous mission, so take the responsibility seriously.«

  An exercise over two days in a strange world! As the group digested what they had heard, the ship entered the grey atmosphere of Nirvana and the windows immediately became useless. The others whispered excitedly, but Leena had become completely silent. She had closed her eyes and seemed to be worried about something. Carter wanted to ask her, but then came the order to get the equipment.

  While the first team was being dropped off, their group equipped themselves. They were given a standard set of field armor in a dark gray to merge with the environment. Also a simple helmet without HUD or air filter, a Cypher pistol and a Cedar type assault rifle, which was a bit bulky but effective. In addition, there was an electric stick, basic rations, and one medikit each as well as simple sleeping equipment. Because of the many exercises in the simulator, the whole thing still looked like a normal lesson and not like a real situation. The ship landed in the middle of nowhere and Banes waved them out. The first thing they noticed was the almost freezing temperature, followed by the unpleasant smell in the air. The major grinned nastily: »The stench is not unhealthy, only a massive imposition. Something like this can always happen to you, so get used to it. Whittaker! Your bracelet should have a red dot on it by now.«

  She checked and actually there was a red blinking on the outer edge of the screen, which wandered along the edge depending on her viewing direction.

  »You can see the location of the transmitter as the only one and also only the direction, but without a map. The fog only lets certain signals through and physical real-time maps are not included. You have short-range communication, nothing more. I repeat: seek shelter for the night! Because of the fog, day and night are more or less the same here and the temperature remains stable, but the fauna here is not exactly tame. Have fun ...«, he added and returned to the ship.

  Already shortly after the take-off, it was not to be seen anymore. The twelve recruits stood in the fog a little helpless and made themselves aware of their situation. Carter asked Leena: »Do you have commands for us? Otherwise, I would suggest going in the direction of the transmitter to get a feeling for the surroundings.«

  He still had the defeat against the rebels in his bones and was glad not to have to deal with armed enemies there.

  First, she activated the bracelet trackers so they could find each other in the mist. Then she looked at the others.

  »This time we’ll be smarter. When we march, we stay close together. Carter and Urma will go ahead as scouts and inform us about obstacles and enemies. Rod, you go ahead of the group, you are the strongest shooter. Henry and Gina form the rearguard and keep an eye on our backs. Kelly and Nambur cover the flanks and the rest stays with me in the middle.«

  Carter asked: »If you’re the only one with the red dot, how should I and Urma know in which direction we have to go?«

  »You can’t see the transmitter, but I can mark points on the blank map. I’ll regularly mark places in the right direction for you to follow.«

  Carter and Urma put their helmets on, nodded to the others and headed for the first marker. The environment seemed to be the same everywhere: black rocky ground with cracks or boulders and omnipresent fog. Half an hour later, the two of them hit a wall of rock. They searched left and right along for a passage. Urma discovered an entrance, but whether it was a tunnel or a cave could not be said. After they had informed Leena, she said: »Split up. Urma, you try to climb and Carter, you take the tunnel. Both of you be hellishly careful, we don’t know if there are creatures somewhere. Caves are rarely empty. The rest of us will take the easier way.«

  »Scout is a shitty job ...«, Urma said, looking up.

  »Depends on how good you are.«, Carter gave back, put his hand on the folded rifle and entered the tunnel quietly and carefully. The passage was big enough for the rest of the group, but it was completely dark. Since they only had very simple equipment for t
his operation, the helmet did not have a night vision function. So Carter had to turn on the light on the rifle. If he was honest, he felt more comfortable with the gun at the ready anyway. The tunnel described several slight bends and so far it looked as if there could also be an exit.

  All Carter could hear was his own breath, an occasional dripping from somewhere and from time to time he could hear the wind whistling through the tunnel. That, too, was an indicator of an exit. Here and there he noticed insect creatures that looked like little spiral noodles with innumerable little legs that fled from him in fright. This reminded him that Annie once said that the abundance of living beings in the universe was infinite. On the already known planets, most species had been explored and named, but on unexplored worlds, there were still endless new creatures. »Has any of you found such a noodle insect?«, he asked the group by radio. Jimbo replied: »Those things crawl all over the place. They are called Siktos. They’re the biggest nuisance here on Nirvana. Harmless, not harmful to humans or equipment, but totally annoying ...«

  Carter smiled briefly, but he stopped all of a sudden when a new noise joined the dripping. It sounded like a very slow, soft humming. Carefully he moved around the next bend and shone around. The pitch was uneven.

  »Possible contact with a life form.«, he reported.

  »Do not confront! We know nothing about the creatures here.«, Leena ordered.

  Carter wanted to sneak on when his light found the source of the hum. It was a being on six legs with orange, smooth skin with blue stripes. Above arms and legs, thin stripes of skin extended upwards and it had a slowly twitching tail with a bushy end. Long, sharp, curved claws reflected the light. The head was broad and elongated with many pointed teeth, but without eyes. The way it stayed there reminded of a predator cat. He knew instinctively that he had a hunter in front of him.