by D. P. Oberon
Saradi returned his stare. What was his problem? A deep bass growl started at the base of her throat.
Trisdale said, “The successful candidates will partake in Operation Platypus Lake. At this stage, all you need to know is that we have lost contact with the Bravo One Alpha squad.”
Saradi almost raised her hand. Along with some other details her cursory research revealed Bheemasena’s last mission as Platypus Lagoon, and his squad identification as Bravo One Alpha. Yoriko’s daughter had been in the same squad.
Trisdale turned to his left and called out, “Bravo One Alpha, forward.”
Saradi found herself straining forward. Her heart rate quickened and besides her Yoriko kept chewing on her lower lip.
“There’s a survivor,” Saradi hissed to Yoriko. Hope surged in Saradi’s heart. Her face reflected the smile on Yoriko’s face.
“We can ask them questions,” Yoriko said.
The person who stepped forward was none other than Instructor Ali. She nodded at them in acknowledgment and then stepped back into the shadows.
Trisdale said, “Sergeant Ali is the only confirmed surviving member of Bravo One Alpha, and the only soldier in the last thousand years to be awarded the Quad Helix.”
“So, a few basic things. At SOHIC we’re more than just super-marine meat for the grinder. We operate behind enemy lines. We’re intelligence, infiltration, reconnaissance, and a knife in the back. We are whatever the mission needs. But primarily, we are the shadows that leave our enemies dead and their leaders wondering what happened.”
“There are four tech specializations available. These tech specializations are aligned directly to the four SOHIC divisions: Communications, Flight, Engineering, and Gun. Since you’ve all got brains you will note your squad consists of a CommsTech, FlightTech, EngTech, and a GunTech.” He paused and then his index finger pressed a holo button that appeared in front of him.
The small holo-display appeared in front of each of the potential recruits. Now the specialization column was filled with names.
Saradi stared at the display as it updated itself to show:
Bravo Two Zero – Specialization
FlightTech = Saradi Anantadevi
CommsTech = Yoriko Ueno
EngTech = Peng Huizhong
GunTech = Buckingarra Freeman
Trisdale continued. “Ten weeks of ball and ovary busting. Rotating seven day schedule. Day one: fitness. Day two: orientation. Day three: specialization. Day four: strategy. Day five: armor. Day six: weapons. Day seven: battle sim. Each week all squads will be scored based on their performance and Instructor Ali may dismiss under-performing squads.” He turned to his back and glanced at the shadow. He whispered something to Ali who stepped out of the shadow.
Ali said, “Correction. I will dismiss under-performing squads.” There was something about her that spoke of a hardness that Trisdale lacked, Saradi thought. Even as a civilian, Saradi recognized that Penelope Ali was field hardened. Trisdale was not.
Her clear voice said, “Historically, squads who pass Selection score on average of seventy points, ten points a week. Most of those points, officially, are distributed across a range of tasks. Teamwork is essential. Start to think of your squad as one body and each person as a vital limb.” She stepped back into the shadow leaving Trisdale in the light.
Silence filled the room.
Peng raised his hand.
“Recruit Huizhong, this better be good,” said Trisdale.
“Warrant Officer, Sir, with the live munitions. To what extent will they be used?”
Live munitions? Saradi stared at Peng.
“Historically recruits have died during Selection. Standards will not change.” He pointed a stubby finger at them. “Some of you might die during this Selection. In my Selection there were two deaths. One because of a soldier’s poor planning during a heavy backpack march, he died due from heat exhaustion. Another during an arctic warfare exercise, she died due to overwhelming cold. Neither died because of live munitions. Should Instructor Ali decide to engage in exercises with live munitions we will be amply stocked with nurse-bots and doctor-bots. Worst case, you get close to dying and we revive you. We can patch a person up to ninety percent fatality.”
Trisdale took a deep breath. “Now because it was a stupid question you will all do a forty kilometer run. The first squad across the line will be granted ten bonus points. A point less for every successive team. That means half of you will not get any points. If you want to stay in Selection I suggest you do not end up in the bottom half.
“Dis-bloody-missed!”
#
Saradi couldn’t help thinking Claas would’ve loved the challenge of a forty kilometer run.
She thundered across the travolator. With their AI functions disabled they had to use their noses to find the location of their barracks.
An aero-bus zoomed in the air in front of her as she got to the main road. For a moment she felt a deep frustration take hold.
“There should be a map near the aero-bus stop,” said Yoriko, her breathing already labored. She pointed ahead.
“Why don’t we just follow them?” Buckingarra asked, pointing at Chengmedu’s squad who obviously knew where they were going. Saradi shook her head but Buckingarra just sprinted after the other squad.
Saradi stared at him for a moment. She didn’t give in to the temptation of following some other squad. She wanted to know where she was going. Peng came stumbling behind Yoriko, breathing heavily.
They had been given five minutes to locate their barracks, put on their running jersey, shorts, and shoes and head to the adjacent courtyard that was near their barracks.
“I didn’t even bother to remember where our barracks were,” Saradi said. “They’ve been testing us right from start.” Her competitive drive burned within.
A large holo-display stood next to the aero-bus stop. Officer personnel formed a straight line as an aero-bus lowered itself a foot over the ground and extended its ramp. Saradi’s fingers toggled at the holo-display looking for their barracks.
“There,” Saradi said, pointing. “A klom south-east from here. Let’s go,” she said, waving her hand. She made sure they ran in a group, encouraging Peng to keep up the pace.
It wasn’t too bad as eighty other recruits generally went the same direction. Most of them seemed to be blindly following the group in front.
Wide pathways bordered every highway. A lumbering mech with a large head and skinny long legs ran past with an odd animal-like gait. A razor-tank trundled past them rumbling the entire ground, its threads making an odd drum beat with the mech’s thumping feet. Both vehicles bore the painting of a skull and flame against their chassis that said “10th Company Heavy Infantry, Fort Windradyne.”
Fifty soldiers ran behind the mech shouting out:
“I don’t know but I been told,
Britannic penis is mighty cold,
Thaw it out and you will see,
It’s just fine for you and me.”
Saradi laughed. The same chant repeated with vagina substituting itself for penis. About half the marchers were women, Saradi noted.
The heavy infantry troopers ran in green armor that looked chunky — but they weren’t as hulked out as the super-marines. Their helmets hung open on their backs and they swung like they were on swivels as the recruits ran. Every single one of them sported the same skull and flame emblem across their armor.
They nodded at Saradi and she found herself nodding back. A thought flashed through her mind about this outlandish experience. A week ago she lived in High Melbourne, in inner suburbia. Now she ran in a fort in the middle of the desert with a giant-sized mech lumbering beside her.
The broad forms of Chengmedu’s squad had already disappeared down the road. They hadn’t even needed to look at the holo-display. Saradi’s squad was at the back with the rest of stragglers. Saradi noted one squad had stopped at the aero-bus stop arguing about the direction to take. They’re not goin
g to last long.
They took a left-hand turn onto an off-ramp that split into many more entranceways into various buildings. Each one was clearly numbered. They turned into the entranceway on which “Class 108 Courtyard” was displayed in a large, glowing font. They shuttled down another wide ramp and found themselves in the courtyard.
A bulletin board, just like the cracked ancient display that greeted them near the aero-kart pickup, had clusters of squads in front of it straining their necks.
Saradi read the display where it said Bravo Two Zero. “We’re assigned to barracks zero five. North pathway.”
The four pathways branched out from the square courtyard. The north pathway took them to another intersection that branched five ways, and old displays showed the squad’s name with five pointed arrows. Bravo Two Zero the sign said pointing straight ahead.
Saradi, Peng, and Yoriko just stopped with lowered jaws. Chengmedu and his squad ran past them—
“They’re naked,” Peng said.
Yoriko’s jaw opened and shut. She shook her head.
“Let’s go,” Saradi said, feeling uncomfortable.
They found their squat barracks. Two large floor-to-ceiling transpasteel windows sandwiched a ramp and front door. Outside, gravel bordered by a strip of grass went around the entire barracks. The front door stood open. Saradi almost bumped into Buckingarra as he ran out.
Buckingarra licked his lips as if salivating over food. He scratched his balls. He was stark naked. “Well, looks like we’ve joined a nudist colony, lads!”
Saradi couldn’t help her gaze from being drawn to his well-endowed penis. He laughed and slapped Saradi on the back. She jerked her head upward.
“Hurry up, squaddies, come join me.” He jogged down the pathway, his hairy backside mocking them.
“I’ve got a sinking feeling about this,” said Peng, as they all entered the barracks.
Inside a spartan but spacious room with four large beds at each corner greeted them. Their names blinked in green font alongside the bed cabinets. A holo-vid of Instructor Ali floated in the middle of the room barking out repeated instructions: “Recruits, this is a clothes-free exercise. Assemble in the courtyard naked.”
All three of them stared at the holo. Saradi swallowed and eyed Peng and Yoriko. There was little room for misinterpretation as the message looped itself.
“It’s a test, they’re trying to rattle us,” Saradi said. What could she tell them to take away their self-consciousness? She swallowed, said, “Look we’re all here for something that’s greater than this infantile test. Focus on why you’re here. Let that get you through.” She ate her own words by stripping in front of them, throwing her clothes on the bed, and then running outside.
The courtyard filled with a group of well-toned individuals. The aggregate body fat percentage probably not more than five percent. Many of them sported military glyphs that glowed in the dark. That’s why they don’t care, Saradi thought, they’re all super fit. She stood there statuesque with muscles elegantly sculpted and pressed her arms against her sides like the rest of the recruits. She felt a twinge of guilt that her level ten upgrades were the reason for her toned body, whereas all the assembled individuals had busted their asses off in the military.
Instructor Ali stood in the middle of the courtyard with her hands crossed in front of her. Her shades wrapped around her eyes betraying nothing of her expression.
“Sara, where are the others?” Buckingarra asked, besides her.
Saradi didn’t consider herself a prude. But she decided she would maintain strict eye contact for the rest of this test.
“They’re coming,” she whispered. From out the corner of her eye she saw other recruits running out onto the courtyard, finding their squad, and then forming an impeccable line.
Instructor Ali said, “Attention. Five minutes is up. For the squads that have assembled here on time head toward Sector B, Gate ten, now.”
“Oorah, Instructor,” chorused the recruits. All the complete squads marched out, with Chengmedu’s squad leading them.
Saradi turned and began to leave but Instructor Ali’s voice whipped at her.
“Recruit Anantadevi, did you not understand what I said?” Instructor Ali’s eyes fell on some of the other individuals who also began to move. “A squad means all four recruits.”
“Sorry, just got a little excited. I understand, Instructor,” Saradi said. Teamwork, they said back in SOHIC Central. Now she didn’t have her team. She regretted not staying back in the barracks and ensuring Peng and Yoriko left with her.
Saradi’s face felt heated. Her eyes met Buckingarra’s and they both stepped back in line waiting for Yoriko and Peng.
Instructor Ali shook her head in an unimpressed fashion.
Yoriko and Peng eventually came, one minute past the deadline. Yoriko held one arm across her breast and the other covered her groin. Peng held both hands over his groin. They were the last of the late squad members to arrive. Out of the twenty squads, seven hadn’t made the deadline.
Instructor Ali said, “Time is of critical essence. You will learn this here in AAEDEF. Every single day. Every single act you perform. You will have two minutes to shower. One minute to brush your teeth. Five minutes to change and assemble here every single morning. There is a clock everywhere you go in Fort Windradyne. Do you know why we are so pedantic about time?”
None of the assembled latecomers raised their hand. Answering the rhetorical question would probably be a really bad idea.
Instructor Ali shouted, “Because you will be DEAD!” The tendons on her neck corded, her lips twisted in fury. “One hundred push-ups, one hundred star jumps, one hundred burpees. Now!”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Buckingarra said. “My balls are going to be flying everywhere.”
Saradi didn’t find it funny. Instructor Ali’s rage felt like the heat from the back of an octocopter.
Instructor Ali deducted five points from each of the late squads. Bravo Two Zero’s Selection started badly.
Saradi couldn’t sleep that night. As she had run the forty klom, the ghostlike image of Claas appeared to run next to her. He’d smiled at her and encouraged her to keep running. He’d vanished just before the finish.
Saradi squeezed her eyes against the pain in her head, but it didn’t lessen. She’d drank water, ate the right amounts of food, but still the headache persisted.
She fished the device from the inventory closet by the right side of her bed. It sat inside a safe requiring her gene-ID authentication. She held it carefully.
Saradi stared at Bheemasena’s dog tag. Its cone shape rested snugly against the curve of her palm. It glowed shedding its green light through her fingers as she held it up in the air like a talisman.
“Bheem,” she said to it. “I’m going to come for you like I promised.”
But it was Claas she dreamed of, the bloodied mark around his neck showing in stark relief as he encouraged her to keep running.
Chapter 18 – Dismissal
At zero one hundred the next morning, Saradi woke inside the vat of medi-bot infused gel that made up her bed. Her world filled with blue liquid and silver bubbles as she floated up to the top. Once the bed ejected her to the top, two things occurred: the surface beneath her body hardened preventing her from falling back into the gel, and another layer turned into a blanket and wrapped itself around her nakedness.
More than medi-bots floated in the vat. There’s definitely a stimulant in there, Saradi realized as she stared at the blue gel.
Saradi sat at the end of the bed with her long legs crossed and shook her head. The memories from the simulated battle still coursed through her. They were not joking about having no REM sleep. She felt groggy, but also alert. Already her level ten upgrades worked and her muscles reacted, growing stronger, the tendons beneath thickening, her backup heart had come on-line as she slept and now thumped along with her primary heart. Her backup lungs also activated and her breathing became
a lot more efficient. The organic coating across her eyes helped her see in a much wider visual spectrum.
That was the only thing that had gone right since she’d come to Fort Windradyne.
She breathed out a long breath and summoned the holo-display. It flared to life bathing her in a green light. The other three beds glowed a dim blue as Peng, Buckingarra, and Yoriko went through simulated exercises.
The words “Austra-Asian Empire Defense Force LocalNet” glared at her. She authenticated, using her gene-ID, and the lights swept her eyes. Pollen-bots flew out from the holo-display and entered Saradi’s bloodstream where they would stay for the remainder of the session while she was connected to the AAEDEF LocalNet compute network.
Search: Mission Platypus Lagoon
Results
Squads: Bravo Zero Alpha, Bravo One Alpha
Mission Details: RESTRICTED ACCESS
Saradi frowned. Below the restricted access it listed the names of the squad members but no details of the mission itself. Sergeant Penelope Ali, their instructor was listed as a member of Bravo One Alpha and so was Bheemasena.
She tried searching for “Bheemasena.” She got a lot of hits with the AAEDEF basketball team and the local AAEDEF university, where he’d applied to study Mech Orbit Logistics. She lost herself reading articles on her own brother and discovered so many aspects of him that she’d never known.
After an hour of searching, though, she felt quite bothered at the complete lack of detail on anything about the mission. Instructor Ali could help. But these military people were so taciturn she would have to worm her way into Ali’s confidences.
Saradi went back to the Class 108 LocalNet homepage and checked out the scores section:
Top 5 Squads
Bravo Two Six: +10 pts
Bravo Two Eight: +8 pts
Echo One One: +7 pts
Zulu One One: +6 pts
Uniform One Four: +5 pts
Saradi scrolled down and stared at the very last entries on the list.
