The Syndicate's Journey

by Nicholas Bogucki

  General Deschner had kept secrets from us, but why?

  “I am hoping the Major Generals will compile data that could lead us to what the hooded creatures are. If they are new to Snakardekus, we need to know why. Many questions that need answers, Lieutenant.” General Deschner explained.

  “What exactly do you think they are going to accomplish by going to Snakardekus? You think the Snargde – if that is what those are. You think they are going to accept foreign visitors and be grateful that we are going to their planet uninvited?” Lieutenant General Armitage asked. “That sounds like a great way to start a war.”

  “I realize it may seem that way, which is why I am sending them on this mission. We need to know firsthand what we those are.”

  “How are you so calm about this? You do realize you are sending them into possibly a hostile territory without any weapons or firepower, right? You know the Drakdels don’t have any sort of weaponry on them...” Lieutenant General Armitage stood up abruptly, and the chair moved back he stood across the table, with his voice raised at General Deschner. “You are putting them in danger!”

  General Deschner leaned back in his chair and propped his feet on the desk. “I realize everything I am doing. Do you realize by sending some of our own generals into a planet who are armed with weapons headed towards their planet? What kind of sign would that say?”

  General Deschner paused and gave Lieutenant General Armitage a moment to answer.

  “What, do you have nothing to say? That would send a message and a bad one. By sending the Major Generals to these planets, the Snargde and Frochen won’t care if we are there or not.” General Deschner folded his arms together. “Oh, and the Frochen appears to exist as well. Don’t worry, Lieutenant General Armitage, it is all taken care of.”

  “Frochen? Really? But…how? What is that supposed to mean that it is all taken care of?” asked Lieutenant General Armitage.

  “They are generals, and they earned this position. They know the risks.”

  I could not believe what I was hearing. General Deschner is literally taking a risk and sacrificing his own people for transhumans.

  Lieutenant General Armitage sat there quietly in his thoughts.

  “This may come as a shock to you, but you realize this is what we have to do, right?”

  I must play along, at least for now, if I can just warn the Major Generals they might be able to be better prepared.

  “After thinking about it, I think you are making the best decision not only for us generals but for Nuwurth and all the transhumans.” Lieutenant General Armitage tried to sound sincere. “I should have agreed with you earlier.”

  “I’m glad you agree. I knew you would. You definitely remind me of myself, but in a much younger form, that’s for sure.” General Deschner chuckled. “When I was Lieutenant General, General Rhukduhl was in charge, if he ever said something like this to me...I would try to stop it from happening.”

  “Can I ask why you would try to stop it, General?”

  “Well...to be honest, I was naïve back then. I valued transhuman lives over the greater good. Since then, I have learned that one life is less valuable than beneficial information, that’s for sure.” General Deschner smiled. “That’s why, Lieutenant.”

  Wow...he just admitted it. Lieutenant General Armitage thought. “You know, you’re definitely right about that, General!”

  General Deschner smiled again. “Good, I’m glad you feel the same way. I knew I could trust you. Well… I better make a call to MOD and talk to Brigadier General Maruo. Go ahead and continue building more Kradnaks!”

  “Yes, General!” Lieutenant General Armitage stood up and walked to the door and pressed the button, and the doors opened.

  “Oh, Armitage?”

  Lieutenant General Armitage turned to his left and looked at General Deschner.

  “Yes?”

  “You forgot something.” He declared. “Open your INH”

  Lieutenant General Armitage obeyed and waved his hand and opened his INH General Deschner tapped a button and flicked his fingers in the direction of Lieutenant General Armitage and on his screen were the words:

  ◆◆◆

  DOWNLOADING DATA FROM GENERAL DESCHNER

  DOWNLOAD? YES OR NO

  OPEN? YES OR NO

  ◆◆◆

  “What is this?” he asked.

  “Oh, you know, our little secret.” He smiled. “Top secret mission, right?”

  Lieutenant General Armitage nodded. He had not the slightest clue what he downloaded from him.

  “Check out your new files when you get a chance.”

  “Yes, General, you’ve got it!” He smiled.

  “Good, thank you! I’ll be seeing you real soon. I just know it.”

  Lieutenant General Armitage walked through the threshold, and the doors closed behind him.

  I must warn them before they leave in ten hours.

  Lieutenant General Armitage moved his left hand from his side and waved it across his face to open his INH. All sorts of shapes appeared on the hologram. Each form represented a button, and each button denoted a program. Lieutenant General Armitage had many programs on his I.N.H, some of the programs were in English, and those that were labeled: Call, Division Information, General Information, Health Progression, History, Mail, Message, Nuwurth Archives, Pictures, Scan, Videos, and many others.

  Lieutenant General Armitage tapped on “Call.” Then he scrolled up and down through his contacts and selected the four Major Generals and called them on his INH With his right hand, he waved it to the side and brought up the ship's directory.

  At that moment all four Major Generals had their INH projecting a message that read:

  LIEUTENANT GENERAL ARMITAGE IS CALLING.

  Hello, Major Generals.” Lieutenant General Armitage expressed concern in his voice. “I know we were just in a meeting, but could you meet me somewhere? General Deschner forgot to tell you something.”

  It was odd to the Major Generals that General Deschner would not call them himself, but nonetheless, he was a Lieutenant General, and he had just spoken to General Deschner.

  “Uh...sure Lieutenant, but where?” Major General Lokhorst agreed.

  The Major Generals waved their hand to bring up the ship's directory, as Lieutenant General Armitage did. Lieutenant General Armitage moved his right hand right on his INH while browsing through the USV Valkanaut on the left side, and the four screens of the Major Generals on the other side and he was searching for a place that would be secluded, but with such a small ship it was almost impossible.

  “Hmm...” Lieutenant General Armitage thought. “What about the Medbay?”

  “Sure,” Major General Lokhorst agreed.

  “We’ll be right there.” Major General Solbrig stated.

  “Sounds good. Meet you there.” Lieutenant General Armitage spoke. “And hurry.”

  Lieutenant General Armitage nodded to them and wiped his screen away. Lieutenant General Armitage started walking to the Medbay. It was not far away, he thought. I just have to walk through one hall, then the Nexus, then another hall then Medbay. Simple enough. As Lieutenant General Armitage was walking, he could not stop thinking about the conversation that he just had with General Deschner. Does he sincerely believe that our lives are not worth anything?

  Lieutenant General Armitage walked through the hallway into the Nexus. The Nexus was about a fourth of the USV Valkanaut’s size. The Nexus was the place where they ate food, lounged around, and relaxed. Half of it was painted baby blue where the kitchen was, and the other half was a beige color. In one corner of the Nexus was a projector that could be used to enlarge an INH to show the others if need be. The Nexus was an area where someone was always using their INH for research or leisure. This was the place where business was set aside, and pleasure took over. Lieutenant General Armitage looked around. Good, no one is here.

  Lieutenant General Armitage continued walking to the Medbay and thought intensely. A
lmost there, Now how am I going to tell them what I know? What am I going to do about weapons? Should I inform Lieutenant General dee Veyra about this situation? I wonder if she would tell me if she was in my position? He shook his head. No, I cannot tell her. She would go to General Deschner about it. I have to keep this to myself. Just stick to the plan.

  Lieutenant General Armitage pressed the button on the panel to the Medbay doors, and the doors slid open he walked inside, and the doors closed behind him. The Medbay was well lit. On the left side of the Medbay had four beds. Above the beds were two big circular metal objects that resembled dishes that were hanging from the ceiling over the beds.

  These dishes would scan and produce electromagnetic radiation that would accurately scan the transhuman and relay the results to the Caretakers’ INH. The dishes would display a hologram above the individual to notify all the statistics of the transhuman lying down.

  On the right side of the Medbay were two cylindrical shaped tubes, which were big enough that a transhuman could fit into. They were used for specimen identification and testing. The glass casing would fill up with a liquid, almost reverting the specimen back to life in the amniotic sac while having a breathing apparatus mask on. This was the most humane way; one could study a live sample without having to harm it.

  Past the tubes was a desk with a black chair. The desk was bigger than normal, and it was flat and white, almost see-through like it was made out of glass. This desk was used to enlarge the I.N.H of any patients on more than one screen for medical reasons. Lieutenant General Armitage walked to the chair and sat down in it. The chair lifted itself up and started to levitate like the other chairs in the meeting room with General Deschner. While he sat down, he waved his right hand in the air, and his I.N.H appeared, tapped on the “Files” button, and he saw what General Deschner gave him. Two files that read: “NEW: SNAKARDEKUS” and “NEW: VARENOK.”

  They should be here soon. Oh well, I guess I’ll start looking at these files.

  Lieutenant General Armitage tapped on the Varenok file, and it opened before his eyes. Numerous pictures appeared from it. Photographs of the planet from space and from up close via a probe. There was data that were passed down from past Generals had sent probes to Varenok to try to discover more information about the blue planet.

  He sifted through the documents and put them on the left side. Underneath the documents were videos. He tapped on one, and it started to play. In the video it showed three large landmasses, they had ice and snow on them. The video zoomed in as if something flew by while recording. There was a group of creatures on one of the snow-covered landmasses, on the screen captions appeared that explained what the individual was watching. The captions read that:

  “These animals were called Brulids, and they are a type of land creature on Varenok that uses its massive amounts of body hair to stay warm. The Brulids can be seen on all landmasses of Varenok, and these are smart creatures that can easily capture their prey. They are tall creatures with heights up to ten feet for males and eight feet for females. The Brulids weight ranges from six hundred to seven hundred pounds. They have small beady black eyes with a snout that protrudes, and their incisors hang out of their mouth, making it seem as if they have fangs. The Brulids have six digits on each paw with sharp nails which they use to capture prey. The Brulids are also excellent swimmers. They can swim almost as fast as other aquatic life, but quickly have an advantage due to their claws. The Brulids squat on the side of the land and move their tail in the water and wait until a fish latches on. When their tails enter the water, pheromone releases, which attract bait. Their tails are designed to trap anything that grabs ahold of it due to the end of their tail that looks like the letter y. When the Brulid feels something biting its tail, it then moves its tail out of the water, turns around, and hits it against the ground, killing it in the process.”

  Lieutenant General Armitage watched the video of the Brulids intently. He had never seen a creature like those before.

  “Whoa...” he uttered softly.

  I don’t care if it is against protocol, I must show this to Major Generals Reingle and Solbrig for their safety.

  Lieutenant General Armitage heard the Medbay doors open, and he jumped in the chair.

  “Did we scare you, Lieutenant?” asked Major General Lokhorst as she walked in, followed by the other three Major Generals.

  “Oh, no.” he chuckled and shook his head and waved his hand to clear out his INH. “No, I was just...looking at the schematics for the Drakdels... that’s all.”

  “We won’t tell General Deschner that we scared you.” Major General Brentari laughed.

  Lieutenant General Armitage smiled and shook his head. “Thanks, don’t blow my cover.”

  “So why did you call to meet us...especially in the Medbay?” asked Major General Reingle. “Is something wrong?”

  “Well…yes, I mean no, I figured you all should be fully equipped with the latest and best tools and resources for sample collection, creature scans, and to show you how to upload everything to the INH.”

  “I already know how to do all of that.” Major General Reingle noted. “I am the general for SIR...”

  “Oh, I know, and I realize that, but do the other Major Generals know how to do this? What about Lokhorst and Brentari? Were you going to teach them?”

  Major General Reingle stood there frozen, then he shook his head. “Well...” he started to speak. “I... guess I did not think about that...”

  “I’m not concerned about you, Solbrig. You’ve been here even longer than I have.” Lieutenant General Armitage smiled playfully at him.

  “Yeah, thanks, Lieutenant.” Major General Solbrig sarcastically thanked him and shook his head.

  “Don’t sweat it, that’s what I’m here for.” Lieutenant General Armitage smiled. “Allow me to go over the basics with you all real quick.”

  All four of the Major Generals walked closer to Lieutenant General Armitage while he stood up from his chair.

  “Okay, so... Snakardekus and Varenok are two different planets with opposite climates, right? Well, when you go to those planets, you have to make sure to check your internal temperature or have your partner do it for you.” Lieutenant General Armitage waved his hand, and his INH appeared in front of the five of them.

  “Right here is my internal body temperature.” He pointed to the top right of the I.N.H, which also displayed the time which was 20:12 and his temperature, which was 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature of the ship, which was 73.4, and the outside temperature, which was -454.81 degrees Fahrenheit.

  “When you wave your hand over somebody, the INH will register what you want the temperature to be shown will appear. Like this.”

  Lieutenant General Armitage waved his hand over Major General Lokhorst. “Look 98.6 degrees.”

  The generals nodded their heads in agreement.

  “This is how you would do a creature scan. To be honest, though, I’m not quite sure what sorts of creatures you will encounter in Varenok and Snakardekus.”

  I can’t tell them about the Brulids, who knows how they will react.

  “From far away, you can wave your hand and then point at the object you want to scan. Whatever it is, the INH will pick it up and scan it. For instance, if you were to scan minerals and rocks, the INH will tell you everything about it. If it is igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic, or unknown.”

  “Creatures will be different since no transhuman has ever gone to these planets. Most of the information that you gather will be either unknown or it will try to incorporate and compare to what we already know-”

  “We know? What do you mean? We know about the creatures there, Lieutenant?” asked Major General Solbrig.

  “No, no.” He had to think without telling them what he had seen about the Brulids. “No, what I meant was that the creatures that are on Nuwurth. That is what I meant.”

  Major General Solbrig nodded. “Gotcha, Lieutenant.”

  Phew, that
was close.

  “The readings should indicate information such as organic matter or what the creature is made from. For example, creatures with fur, or fangs, or scales. That sort of thing. It should also tell you their internal temperature.”

  “Well, that’s not too hard, right? To sample objects, you will need to learn how to harvest resources and how to upload it to the INH.. which you should already know how to do that.” Lieutenant General Armitage stated. “If not, here’s a crash course.”