“A commander piloting a ship must be aware of all of the options for using the available resources to the best possible advantage,” interjected Steersman. He then steered them onto the next topic.
“I'm planning a training program at university post graduate level. We need a strong management staff to manage space fleets and defense divisions.”
“At PrEUST?” asked Karen.
“No. It won't be at PrEUST. We will have to set up a new institution based on the PrEUST system, yet independent of it, where we can create a commander faculty specializing in training, action and expedition planning and execution.”
“Must candidates have a PrEUST degree in order to be admitted?”
“Not at the beginning, but in order to become a commander the candidate will have to have expertise in at least one technical discipline to be able to direct either specialized mechanized troops or a whole fleet.”
“Who will train these leaders?”
“We will,” said Steersman, looked around at each of the participants. “Everyone here knows what is needed and what it takes to do this job. During training, we'll subjecting them to high pressure situations so that we can gauge how they're able to keep there cool and handle pressure that would make most people crumble.”
“The current staff and training center will be enlarged and two simulation bases will be added, where candidates will spend most of their time practicing,” added Murinko, who had already been through the details with Steersman in an earlier discussion on training needs. “Later on, they'll be expected to familiarize themselves with specialized equipment in the Enforcement Pole training practice facilities.”
“One of the main goals of this training is for us to screen candidates and make sure that they have the endurance and can bear the load without cracking. Only the strongest will remain. I'm pretty sure no one wants an unstable commander in control when the shit hits the fan. We certainly don't want anyone who will fold under pressure,” argued Steersman.
“That would certainly cause a hell of a lot of damage,” agreed Trenerry.
“Yes, it would.”
Steersman looked around as a reflective silence edged into the discussion.
“If I understand everything correctly, in summary, the prerequisite for creating a military body is the deployment of a global sensor networks sixty thousand kilometers away in space, which can only be done with space vehicles, the prerequisite for which is the development of a DCG based drive that will actually work in space and not be the size of a small moon. This drive is currently at an advanced stage of development, but not yet ready, and along with the necessity of training staff, we need to implement a training facility that does not yet exist, and train people who have already graduated from PrEUST!” Karen, stopped for a moment and looked around. “Have I left anything out?”
Steersman thought for a moment.
“No, that sums it up rather nicely,” he responded with a smile.
“And then, there's the other thing,” said the astrophysicist Martins, who had been sitting quietly at the far end of the table. It was surprising enough that everyone turned to take heed of what he was about to say.
Steersman got in ahead of him. “Ah yes, thank you, Dr Martins.” Everyone present felt that he going to say something important, and all paid careful attention to him.
“At the time of their accession to ASEC, Dr Martins and his team shared with us some rather …” Steersman hesitated, cautiously selecting his words, “… interesting discoveries. Their work is quite specialized. Specifically, they're working on deciphering a series of communication.” Steersman seemed to dwell with rapt attention on each of the details, as the astronomer's comment had been rather cryptic. “But, so far, the communication is one-sided, isn't that so, Dr Martins?”
“Sadly yes.”
“What communication?” asked Trenerry, impatiently.
“What are you taking about?” demanded Karen, joining the fray, as murmuring began to spread around the room.
“We are certain that we have received a message which we now genuinely regard as having been sent from a neighboring star system in another part of our galaxy,” said Martins.
A stunned silence greeted his statement. None of them looked around, they all remained frozen as they were.
“Could you perhaps explain it more fully, Dr Martins,” requested Steersman.
“Our solar system lies on what we know as the Orion-Cygnus spiral, in the Milky Way galaxy.” He used gestures to outline the spiral arms. “The message was sent from one of the planets found in a star system on the Perseus arm of our galaxy. This means that their star system is even further from the center of the galaxy than our own,” explained Martins.
“The question is not whether the message is genuine, as it most certainly is, but rather, have we been able to effectively send an answer to our neighbors, and have they understood it,” Steersman once again took charge of the meeting.
“What was their message and … what did we answer?” asked Karen curiously.
Steersman looked towards Martins. “Dr Martins! Please tell us how you made your discovery.”
“The majority of our work is focused on looking for radiation anomalies in the background radiation noise of the universe, which we've always been certain contained artificial or non-natural recurrences. Some discrepancies drew attention to themselves because of their irregular behavior compared to radiation patterns that we had already analyzed. When we analyzed these new anomalies, we found that there was a transmission that contained a significant amount of repetition in it that was also very regular. After we had broken the sequences into their base units, we then spent several years decoding, during which time we jointly developed a rather complex algorithm capable of translating these units of code into meaningful expressions. The algorithm essentially works as a language translator …” Martins looked back at Steersman.
“Sean, what was the message?” Karen asked again, noticing that the astronomer was slowly beginning to betray his excitement.
“The part of the message that has so far been deciphered says, ‘we are waiting for you’,” he said finally.
Eyes widened around the room.
“What the hell!” whispered someone in the back.
“And what was our answer?” Karen repeated doggedly.
“Ah yes,” said Martins. ”If I may, Mr Steersman. We used the algorithm to generate a message asking for their location.”
“Fuck!” murmured the same voice from the back of the room.
“So, it turns out there is other life in the universe,” concluded Karen.
“Indeed, and yet, we can't figure out why they're not able to come here. Now there are a huge amount of questions. First of all, can we build a system of communication with them? Assuming, of course, that they reply to our message,” said Steersman.
“That's a hell of a shock for a Tuesday afternoon,” observed Karen.
“Yes, I know. If we are successful in establishing a communication link between aliens and humans, we will be posed with a series of tasks that have never ever been faced in the history of mankind. I'm sure there are hundreds of theories on how such a meeting should take place, but no one knows, no one has ever experienced it. Who knows what their habits are, their temperament, intentions, level of tolerance, biology and so on.”
“I think we should at least deal with this in theory. Prepare scenarios and action plans,” suggested Trenerry calmly.
“I agree. As we wait for a specific response to our message, we'll start a planning program. It could also be that the message we have received is a very old signal. It is also possible that they just sent it out, unprepared to receive a reply. It could be that they will see our answer, it'll scare them, and they'll change their minds. We don't know them, and they don't know us,” Steersman said.
“Jesus, what do you think they might look like? Are they more technologically advanced than us?” Karen posed, almost rhetorically.
“So, maybe we should be afraid or even ashamed,” said Karen.
“As I said, there are a lot of questions, and we won't know all the answers any time soon. The complete picture will only become clear when we become familiar with them and they with us,” said Steersman, bringing them back to earth.
“Okay, so we really do have something to prepare for. Firstly for ourselves, and then for our entire species,” Karen said, refocusing.
“Yes, and what's more, we first have to tidy up our house before we invite the neighbors over for coffee,” quipped Steersman, smiling.
THUE
To the north of the PrEUST building, a special structure began to rise out of the frozen ground. It was symmetrical and regular compared to the usual forms in Excolopolis. It looked like two parallel cigar-like ellipses had been placed on top of three similar structures so that the intersections between the geometric shapes created the floor area of the building. Its unusual aspect and complete lack of windows would quickly fade into unremarkability, but it was the name placed atop the structure that really turned heads: THUE, Training Hub of Utter Execution.
Before they were pushed to give further explanation as to what was going on in the neighborhood of the university campus, a personal message was sent to many of the students via the internal PrEUST network. As the system detected the presence of the students on campus, it sent the daily news and information to their biocoms.
On that particular bright yet icy December morning, small groups of students were standing around discussing the rather cryptic recruitment message that had been sent with a special priority marking – along with the usual faculty and student notices. The message was marked ‘confidential’.
“Hey guys. What do you think this secret meeting is all about, then?” asked Jeff, rubbing his hands together as he arrived at their usual meeting place. Pat and Arch were sipping hot drinks on one of the heated benches that were dotted around the campus.
“Apparently some important notice arrived on some people's biocoms,” said Pat sourly, as she breathed in the cold air.
“We haven't received anything,” Arch said dryly. “Have you?”
“Haven't checked. I hardly had time to breathe this morning. We're working on the garden restoration, even at midnight. The irrigation system was destroyed, and the exterior lighting as well,” Jeff yawned.
“You guys got screwed by that fighter,” Pat shook her head.
“Yeah, dammit. The roof got nailed. We had to replace half of the structure. I keep telling Dad that it'd be easier to just rebuild the whole thing. And we have to do it the freezing cold,” moaned Jeff, indignantly.
“Here, hot coffee to warm you up, dude,” Arch handed him an ecofoam cup.
“Thanks.”
“Have a look at your biocom. The others wouldn't let us see what they got,” said Arch.
Jeff took the palm-sized device from his bag and hit the screen. A small ping sounded and the new messages filled the screen. At the top, there was a message highlighted in red.
“What the fuck is this?” he exclaimed, pointing at the icon.
“I can't believe you got that too!” gasped Arch.
Jeff began to read. “It says: ‘ASEC, in preparation for the future, is launching one of the most important technological and scientific programs ever undertaken in order to forestall events like those of November the 13th, and any further subsequent attacks, crimes against humanity and the environment. We will be launching highest level command training for future missions, campaigns and discovery expeditions on land, sea, air and space. We are offering the opportunity for talent, loyal and dedicated leadership candidates to participate in safeguarding our future. We are looking for a commitment to maintaining the spirit of peaceful development. Location: THUE’.”
“They have got to be shitting us …. What the hell is that supposed to mean? One of the most important technological and scientific programs ever. And what do they mean, in space?” exclaimed Arch.
“Why didn't we get the message too?” huffed Pat. “Don't they need women? What is this? The Middle Ages?” she ranted furiously.
“I'm sure it's not about that,” Jeff reassured her.
“You shouldn't be saying a word asshole, you got an invitation,” she said indignantly.
“This THUE place is right here next to the campus, isn't it?”
“Yep. It's not a very attractive tower block either. What do you think it is? A university or something?” wondered Arch.
“More than that, I'd say. They will be training ASEC enforcement commanders there. They will be the ones helping them build their new empire,” prophesied Pat, cynically.
“Are you cuckoo?” said Arch, rolling his eyes. “You're sulking because you didn't get the invitation?”
“It's probably because sometimes you're a bit hot headed,” Jeff added the final sting.
“I don't give a shit about this stupid soldier shit, I just don't understand why others don't get a chance,” she fumed.
“I'm sure other opportunities are there for other people, ones that will fit their abilities better,” said Arch soothingly.
“When's admission?” asked Pat.
“Tomorrow morning.”
First push
The next day, an air convoy arrived at the THUE center, from the ASEC. The building exterior was being clad with a special outer skin, and small aircrafts resembling Condor landed on the helipads. Steersman had assigned one of those to each of the directors. They were controlled and guided by a pre-programmed automated pilot system for the time being.
The building had only one floor situated at about three quarters of the structure's height. It was solely accessible by stairs from the ground level, and by elevator from above. When the ASEC delegates exited the elevator at the meeting point, all of the invited candidates were panting from their climb. The floor was rough, useable, but still in an unfinished state. Not single column broke the vast expanse of the bare floor.
A group of exactly fifty-five people waited, standing scattered throughout the space. They watched uneasily as Sean Steersman stopped in front of them, accompanied by a company of robot guards and some unknown figures. None of this served to ease the tension.
Murinko had brought three of his men and the group was rounded off by Trenerry and Karen.
Karen stepped forward.
“Good morning, my name is Karen Colella. I'm sure it came as a surprise to you all yesterday when you received notice of this meeting. The message gave you a short and succinct summary of what this is about, but now I would like to elaborate,” began Karen. “After November 13, significant changes took place in the global balance of power that have caused hairline cracks in an already delicate stability. The ASEC has recognized that it contributed to the turn of events. We're now at the point where we can no longer allow such conflicts, especially in light of the devastating weaponry that nations have long had at their disposal. We can no longer turn our heads and ignore this frightening situation. Therefore, we are taking an active role in protecting the future by establishing a defense corps that will allow us to defend all that we consider important, and any who stand in need of protection.
You are among the first to be invited to commit yourselves to achieving the appropriate readiness to participate in maintaining global stability. Using the tools we will entrust you with, you must be able to find the means to carry out the duties you will be given, either with fleets of fighters, battalions of soldiers, or simply with the mental resources you have available in your own minds. If you meet the requirements, you will be honed into the finest and most efficient operational experts the world has ever seen to represent peace, humanity and common sense above all else,” Karen stopped and looked to
her right.
Trenerry stepped froward.
“My name is Oliver Trenerry, I am the leader of communications at ASEC. The program you'll be taking part in is unique, as is the goal for which it was created. You need to know that by accepting this training you're opting in for the entirety of your lifetime. If you stay here, you will remain here. If you succeed in becoming an ASEC commander, you will gain honor, respect and prestige, but in return you will be expected to give utter dedication, the highest degree of discipline and unparalleled strength of mind. This will be your life!” Trenerry emphasized each statement to make them all understand what it was they were committing to. “One more thing. The prerequisite for becoming commander is having completed a PrEUST degree with outstanding results, majoring in an area of science or technology. As commanders, you have to have an understanding of your area of expertise to the highest level.” Trenerry paused, glaring at them. “So, take your studies seriously if you haven't done so till now, and become masters in your field. Please, meet your training leader, Chief Commander Murinko, whose job is to ensure that everyone here gives their best performance.”
The commander stepped forward, moving closer to the candidates so that he could see their eyes clearly.
“Welcome to the ASEC Commander Training Base. This proposed project can be summed up extremely quickly. It will consist of two parts: training and evaluation … repeatedly. Congratulations to those who are here now. You have passed the first commander evaluation, a selection based on the consideration that you all have the fundamental skills and qualities to be leaders. You were selected for the program on this basis, but that is still not enough for you to remain here and become commanders, because if you do not have the will and the desire to be the best, your presence here will be dispensed with. I can guarantee to each and every one of you that further screening and evaluation will not be so painless.” Murinko spoke calmly and without color. “This is not to scare you! Pain will be an integral part of your training, like an unstoppable force, a friend you're thrilled to have with you, but at the same time wish into the darkest depths of hell. If you haven't yet felt pain within your minds, then you're about to have your first taste of it, because the toughest part of your body … will be your mind.” He pointed to his temple. “During the training, we will evaluate your progress in two areas: character and spirit. We will deal with the latter in order to increase your capacity and endurance. Although your physical fitness is not strictly relevant, your brain will be challenged indirectly through your bodies. Remember, however, that even those who have the physical stamina and strength will be found unsuitable if they are unable to consistently stay focused and bear the repetitive stress that will be placed upon them. If your situational awareness and problem-solving ability prove to be poor, regardless of how rock-solid your character is or how unwavering your stance, you will not make the grade and become commanders!” Murinko glanced at Karen.
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