by Marcus Sloss
“No miner, invest in military gear. I was surprised you did not do this to begin with,” Torrez said.
“Well, we have mediocre defenses already. Increasing our wealth is not a bad idea with the hope we persist. We will have to go to Denver this round if we do not raid whoever we get for our blue portals. All great for a debate later. Go shopping. Take Slister’s team to help. Standardize our gear, please.”
“On it, boss. Who’s in the helicopter?”
“My mother-in-law,” I replied. Torrez chuckled before closing the connection.
Perci was typing to have the helicopter land outside our wall to the south in the cleared field Norm had not planted in yet. I followed her as she jogged to our wall to greet her mom. The helicopter snapped the air with its rotor blades as it slowed for a landing. My Gpad flared red. Update in progress, service unavailable scrolled across the screen. I ignored the message to catch up to Perci. The helicopter kicked up loose pine needles and dead tree bits left over from the tree clearing.
The loud noise of the engines turned into a whine as they spooled down. I arrived at the gate, seeing the visitors waiting for the blades to stop spinning before exiting. The Black Hawk was crammed full of people. I saw no supplies. Shit. I wanted to rub my temples.
The engines stopped whining before the blades ceased rotation. Linda Growlen stepped out in urban fatigues. To her right was none other than George Gepstein. The man who did not kill himself in the flesh. We smiled at seeing each other. The man had been a close friend after my return from Saudi Arabia. I was somewhat surprised to see him still breathing.
A light truck horn blasted at me while we were blocking the path. Torrez waved to Gepstein as he sped for the Xgate. His convoy rolled out with Slister’s and Gary’s teams with him. I ignored the convoy behind me to greet the new arrivals.
I noticed a few high-ranking officials shuffling behind Linda and George. She must feel comfortable being here, because there were no guards with her this time. Perci received a handshake from her mother. George and I did the man-hug back-clap thing. When it was my turn to shake hands with Linda I deflected her extended arm to embrace her. I dragged Perci into the hug. I knew she desired an affection from her mother that was normally neglected.
“Alright, you goon, unhand me,” Linda said sternly.
“You did not bring enough guards to order me around. These generals are all out of shape and wearing parade uniforms,” I said, teasing the woman.
“Ugh, I know. They insisted on getting out of the bunker to inspect their troops,” Linda said.
“Colonel Reinhardt is in Aspen, only a two-hour drive. Probably twenty minutes by air.” My comment was greeted with flat stares.
“You are a pain, Eric. I have rebellions throughout the entirety of our once-great nation. You were the only one I predicted would secede. Instead, it is bad. These goofballs want to try to maintain power over bases that no longer take orders. I have generals requesting the impossible…” She let out a long sigh while pinching the bridge of her nose. “I am here for a different reason than to vent about the collapse of the United States. The doctor here has gifts. Gifts that may change how we progress forward. We are short on time and I need your arm.”
I went to reply when Dr. Gepstein stepped forward. “Do you trust me? Step back, everyone.”
“Hmm… asking them to step back does not instill confidence,” I said with a frown.
Dr. Gepstein was handed a box by an assistant wearing a lab coat. He opened the box and a blue shimmering globe sparkled so brightly it forced me to turn away. The doctor grabbed my cybernetic arm, which immediately lost power when he pulled out my power core. The weight of the unit felt heavy for the first time since it had been installed. I tried to view what he was doing but that damn light was too bright. While I was squinting at my arm, I saw the light dim as the item was placed where my power source went.
The reaction was severe. My arm crackled a fraction of a second before I shook with electrocution. I smelt burning before my fading vision was consumed by the blackness.
∞∞∞
My head spun from a massive headache. Memories returned. What happened?
I glanced to see Dr. Gepstein standing over me with an alien device. Perci was fighting her mom. Mitchell, with my wall guards, had weapons drawn in hostility. I coughed up black fluid, then vomited. Whoa. The black fluid left the vomit for my hand. It swam up my arm trying to return to my body. Dr. Gepstein looked on, horrified.
I shook my head in a panic. Both of our hands tried to swat the material away. We were unsuccessful as the black goop slithered down my throat. Fuck. What the hell was that?
“So… you died. Well, your heart stopped. We bought this healing liquid just in case things went bad. Double bonus! You are alive and the nitrogen power plant in your arm is working! I will get to start amputating perfectly good limbs to make super soldiers now! Muahahahaha!”
My left hook caught George right in the jaw. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed in my vomit.
“Ha! Serves you right. You, henchman, get him on the helicopter,” I said to the lab coat guy. “Perci!” I shouted at my lover. She was kicking her mom, who was curled up in the fetal position. Damn, that woman did love me.
Her eyes flew open at seeing me back on my feet. She rushed to me for an embrace. I adjusted my fingers as I held her. There was a lot of power in my arm now. I could feel it surging inside the power containment section of my forearm.
“Damn, Persephone, see! He is fine. This will change humanity. We had to take the risk. Give him the weapon,” Linda said while wiping her bloody lip.
A general stepped forward with a military hardcase. The clasps popped open to reveal an alien weapon. I looked at the device in confusion.
“You flew out here to test if the power source would be compatible with the doctor’s cybernetics?”
“Yes, that weapon should explain why I traveled from a bunker under the Teton Range in Wyoming to reach you. Damn, Persephone, when did you learn to punch like a man?” Linda said as she spat blood onto the ground.
“Fuck off. I am so close to killing you,” Perci said with balled fists of rage. I placed a hand on her shoulder, gazed deep into her eyes, and guided her to Mitchell. She knocked my hand out of the way. “Not a chance, pretty boy. I want to see what was so vital. Mom almost killed the man I love.”
“I want to talk about the black goop first. What the hell is it?” I asked. The generals, lab coat assistant, and Linda all replied with shrugs. “Are you kidding me?”
“I will assume that was not a serious question. We literally bought an item called ‘healing liquid.’ It was an afterthought by the doctor. No joke, it was an impulse buy that saved your life. We have no idea what it does. The only man who does is sleeping in the helicopter. A disgruntled patient knocked him out,” Linda said with a smirk.
“I really dislike being a testing subject. You wonder why people rebelled,” I muttered the last line. My cybernetic hand grasped the weapon; its design reminded me of a shotgun. Short, wide barrel with a large discharge port. I hefted it out of the case while slotting my hand to the grip.
The weapon came alive. Tendrils shot from the housing unit above the grip. They snaked into my cybernetic arm. Needles dove between the machinery seeking the nitrogen power unit. The weapon hummed before flaring to light with a bright burst of teal blue. The brightness died down, allowing me to see clearly again.
The metal housing of the weapon was a flat gray with yellow trim. A blue light flowed through the unit as if it were a living creature. I stepped away from the gathering crowd toward the trees south of our base. I aimed the weapon at a tree and mimicked firing a trigger. Nope. That did nothing. I was not stupid enough to look down the barrel. I did think of firing—
A surge of energy left my forearm through the connection. The weapon flared brightly before discharging a thunderous boom. The kickback knocked me on my ass.
“What the fuc
k!” I shouted in confusion. I scrambled to my feet as I watched the results.
A ball of blue energy continued to tear through trees as it sped forward. Each crash into a pine resulted in the ball shrinking until it eventually dissipated. The damage was intense. Trees simply exploded from the powerful discharge. Blue flames licked off the exposed remnants of the pines.
My cybernetic arm felt empty for a moment. Then I felt the surge of power again. Condensation bubbled on the metal as I inspected it. What the—?
Dr. Gepstein was awake, evident by the fact he was running for me while cheering. The man said nothing as he inspected my arm. I saw him wipe the beads of water around my power unit with a sniff. He jumped for joy after the smell test.
“Fill us in, doc,” I said.
My desire to hit him was gone because he was acting like a giddy child. The doctor did not fulfill my request. Instead, he ran to the helicopter. He retrieved a long case similar to the first case. He set it on the ground and opened it quickly. The man ran to hand me a long-barreled rifle with an unknown optic type.
I willed the alien shotgun weapon off my right hand. The tendril disconnected and snaked back into the housing. I traded the weapon with Dr. Gepstein for the long rifle. Except, instead of holding onto the shotgun, he forced it into my human hand.
What happened next should not have surprised me. Both weapons shot out their power cables. The left-hand shotgun raced the closest distance from the weapon to my nitrogen power plant. Somehow the tendril cable knew it was exposed. The cable wriggled as it sought my body. When it found my neck, it retracted from my arm. This time it snaked up my arm, around the back of my neck, and down my right bicep until it found the power source. The long rifle plugged right in with the tendril location near the power plant.
Both weapons illuminated brightly. I closed my eyes until they dimmed. When I opened my eyes, I scanned the skyline for a target. Drone, pass. Carrion bird, perfect. My cybernetic arm was synced to my eye. The dot in the scope centered on the flying vulture. A single thought of firing the long rifle caused a minor kickback. A blue dot flew straight for its target at speeds beyond what an eye could properly track. I watched the vulture in the scope explode in a red mist with a direct hit. From here, with the naked eye, the bird poofed into a firework of feathers.
My left arm came up to target the falling remains. I fired the big ball of blue power. The round soared for the feather. About a quarter of the way gravity grabbed hold of the round and caused an arc to start. Eventually, the round dipped below our sight to land somewhere in the distance.
Okay, that told me what I suspected. One was close range with a large discharge of power. The other had limited power consumption, was long range, and was a smaller orb. Condensation again formed against my cybernetic arm as the power recharged. Dr. Gepstein huddled close, watching the power source work. He slapped goggles on and I turned my head when he opened up the power container. The brightness was intense. A quick study tickled his curiosity and he returned the cover.
“Madam President, we have our first advanced soldier in the war to maintain humanity!” Dr. Gepstein proclaimed.
Linda Growlen approached. “I will send a team for an update download and upload the next golden day. Do not expect supplies, troops, or really anything besides information,” Linda said with a stern tone. She was clearly upset she had been attacked by her daughter.
“George, what is this power source?”
“That, my friend, is an alien nitrogen power plant. We bought a dozen of them at the grand market. They were touted as being able to quickly recharge on planets with high levels of nitrogen. Which Earth is, and most planets have some nitrogen. Which, spoiler, avoid relying on these weapons to recharge in a non-nitrogen environment. The condensation is the wicking of water vapor from the air. For reference, water vapor is only one percent. So that tells you how much atmosphere that power plant is pulling from the air. There is a recharge timer, but as you have seen, very minimal. Now I just need to design a backpack with a few of these in them.”
“Where did you get the idea to—”
“Camp Pendleton was lost in an insane battle. The data will be in your tower now. An alien force smashed our troops with these types of weapons, and the same glowing shielding. Enemy frontline troops used backpacks of these. A fifty cal will zap the shielding power no problem. 5.56 required a lot of sustained rounds. Study the data we just delivered. A lot of good people died getting it to me,” Linda Growlen said sadly. Which, for her, was the first sign of empathy I had ever seen her display. “Enough sappiness, I have an underground fortress to rule, weapons to buy, and enemies to defeat. Same as up here, but underground and filled with whiny bureaucrats. Load up.”
“Thanks for the gifts. Even if you killed me and implanted me with magical goo. I do enjoy kickass weapons,” I said to Linda, who rolled her eyes and scoffed.
“Pansy, get over it. Nice left hook. Persephone, I am proud of you. So very, very proud of you,” Linda Growlen said to her daughter while kissing her on the forehead.
My angry Perci deflated at the caring gesture. She moped over to me as the Black Hawk’s engines spooled up. The implications of this new technology twirled through my mind. I saw my Gpad had completed its update, so I shot the information to Torrez to digest on his way to purchase our weapons.
He tried to call me but I had him wait for the Black Hawk to disappear first. While Perci and I stood there waving goodbye to her mother, Nancy walked over with Willow. I was scanned with the medical device while we watched the Black Hawk fade to the north.
“Fuck me,” Nancy blurted with a whisper. “Your muscle mass increased by a percent, which might just be damaged muscles being repaired. Your body has perfect joints now, your toe is fixed, and your balls are surging with lively sperm. Whatever they applied to you made you… perfect.”
“Aw shucks, Nancy, I think you are swell too,” I said, trying to bring levity to the moment.
“We have confirmed reports of others getting portal fatigue also. Those who went through once are not experiencing the same issue we did. It might also be linked to the transition to the actual golden market. With this latest news, I want to buy this healing liquid even if it will feel—”
“Go. Hurry, though, before Jacky gives out spending money. Maybe try it on an old person. Hey, Nancy, do try to get more information than Gepstein did. I would really like to know if my babies are going to be goo-born,” I said, and Perci flicked my ear. “What!? Hey, speaking of which, I know this great RV bed…”
“Eric Yang, you are only putting human babies in my belly. You are off limits until we figure out what is going on.”
Willow chuckled. “Wait for it.” Her finger pointed to me with a sarcastic grin on her face.
“Wait for what?” Perci asked with a shrug.
“What about handjobs!” I said, and the ladies rolled their eyes. “I need to deal with this Cornerstore fiasco. Are you going with Nancy, Willow?”
“Definitely. I want to try on my new armor and get a power generator with a pistol, rifle combo. We watched your demonstration. As your queens, Nancy and I want the best.”
“See, this is why I get labeled a dictator, but I approve.”
Nancy scoffed and said, “Yeah, not sure how that whole ordeal will turn out. You were right to kick them out. Also, I would hate dealing with a council to get anything approved. I do happen to snuggle with the boss, though. Eric, I was wondering—”
“About us and sex?” I asked and she nodded. “The fact that I can somewhat read your mind should explain it. We are close, taking things to the next level is a big step. I know you reached that point with Perci and Willow. When it happens, it will happen. I think you are more beautiful on the inside than ever before and I desire your outside. I’m mainly wanting to ensure we are not your rebound. Aw, Nancy, don’t wince. I value our relationship that much. Think about it, please.”
“I have. Tonight. Me, you, and a condom. Only because o
f your goo,” Nancy said in a huff. She stomped off without me being able to reply.
“Sounds like a fun time if you ask me,” Willow said with a wink and a smirk. We kissed goodbye and it was only Perci and me again.
I walked to the trees to see the damage up close. The residual blue flames were gone, but the smoldering quarter of a tree still generated heat. The fragments of the exploded tree went into adjacent pines. Splashes of blue nitrogen discharge had bored holes past the bark and into the pines. I had never seen a weapon like this in any of the reports. I was starting to realize there were some very lethal bad guys connected to our portal network. Hopefully, they were rare.
I followed the trail only for a few trees. Perci stayed by my side while our feet crunched over the debris.
“Seven days of blue portals and there was peaceful bliss. Today comes around to pull me a hundred different directions. There is still a lot of time left too. Fourteen hours left to prepare. My Gpad has been quiet besides a message from Sarah. She is coming home with a truck full of people she trusts. The rest are unplugging their Gpads. I guess they want to leave without us tracking them.”
“Probably. I doubt they would charge this kill zone. Even after seeing it, they know they cannot push us off these defenses. Even with most of our citizens gone. Call Sarah,” Perci recommended.
I dialed the ex-police officer. “Echo Team leader here,” Sarah said.
“Isaac has his people unplugging. What gives?”
“They are going to Denver. Sheeple, really. Funny thing is, I got called that. They wanted to fight and argue. I want to build my new home. I have it from an inside source, when the convoy leaves, about ten vehicles will not follow and will instead come here. That way, they do not have to argue over their decision. Who knows, though? That might be the tipping point. I made my case, Denver is a warzone with aliens, the dead, and probably no safety, all with limited food. There is not much more argument to be had than those facts.”
“Did you get any electronics?” I asked.
