Proxy War

by Adam Sampson

  As they ran into the forest, they could smell the vegetation around them. It was complex, but mostly a bitter sagey smell. Before long the forest grew much taller and thicker. It towered over them, and the forest, already dim from the clouds above, grew very dark.

  A distant cry was heard, like a monkey crying out in pain. Some soldiers faltered but were admonished to keep running. Soon another cry was heard, this one closer and angrier.

  They ran on, the forest quiet again.

  Suddenly a creature leaped out the upper branches, falling towards the middle of the column. It was the same sapphire blue as the surrounding forest and screeched as it fell. Six arms ending in claws, a furry torso and tail, and a head like a saber-tooth tiger, two huge fangs poking from its mouth.

  Before it fell even five feet, a lightning bolt shot from Thor’s hand and hit the creature in the chest with a loud crack. The sound of the bolt was felt as much as heard. It insta-fried the creature, and fell away from the group, landing fifteen feet away as a charred husk.

  A few soldiers screamed, reacting to the dead saber-tooth monkey as if it was still alive.

  “Keep running, stay in formation,” Thor yelled at the group, obviously not concerned with the situation. An orb rose from the body and drifted over to Thor.

  Twice more the saber-tooth monkeys appeared and were quickly demolished. The first one was blasted away with a fireball, and the second one just fell apart into bloody pieces. Peter suspected Rex was responsible for the second one since its orb drifted to him, but he couldn't figure out how it happened.

  The sun peeked through the clouds as they exited the forest and entered a field of bacon and lavender smelling bushes. They ran along and Peter took deep calming breaths of his favorite scent on this planet and tried to put the ambushes out of his mind. Nothing could be sweeter and more savory than the scent of these bacon lavender bundles of joy. By the time they left the valley, the sun was out and Peter was feeling much better.

  Their destination was much like the hunting spot from a few days ago, with one exception. A red earth valley, a depression in the middle with the familiar grouping of giant anthills, and little vegetation. The difference was that this valley had a solid rock border around three sides. They were grouped much closer than normal, but they wouldn’t have to worry about zerglings borrowing up underneath them since they were standing on rock.

  The soldiers were directed to stand along the ridgeline, the rising sun behind them. A wind was softly blowing and teasing their uniforms to the side. It would have been dramatic if there weren’t pockets of borderline terror along the line. Up and down there were people whipping their heads around, trying to look everywhere at once. A few ladies were gathered around a young boy in their squad who couldn't stop shaking. Towards the end of the line, an older woman tried to make a break for it, but her trainer stopped her and carried her back to the line.

  Rex’s two squads were the exception to the rule. They stood facing the anthills, weapons out but relaxed. They were nervous but confident. No terror, only determination.

  Peter looked around at the squads to either side and had to reluctantly admit, perhaps Rex was right. He had taken them out to hunt shortly after they arrived on the planet and that had given them some confidence. The squads nearby hadn’t had the chance to face their fears, just days of practice on base, knowing this day would be coming. He guessed that many of them were still traumatized from that first day, it wasn’t really that long ago. Rex’s methods were bearing fruit as Frank and Peter’s squads were able to handle the stresses of the days much better than those around him.

  He would never tell Rex that of course.

  Thor and Lauren walked into the middle of the group of anthills and pulled something large from their dimensional pockets. Each trainer set a large box on the ground, which immediately started thumping against the ground. Each thump would send out tiny shockwave of dust, and after a few moments a shriek was heard coming from the ground. Both trainers zipped over to stand in between the mounds of dirt and the soldiers on the rocky ridge.

  For a minute, nothing happened, but then three zerglings burst from the ground at once in puffs of red dust. Thor and Lauren stomped their feet and the three monsters ran at them. As they got close, two up front and the third lagging, the trainers leaned forward. Just as the zergling reached them, the trainers reached forward lightning fast and threw the zerglings behind them.

  The zerglings tumbled through the air and landed with a thump directly in front of squads on either end of the ridgeline. The zerglings took a moment to orient themselves, obviously shaken. Once recovered, they attacked the closest thing to them, which turned out to be squads of soldiers ready to dispatch them.

  Peter almost laughed at the absurdity of zerglings flying through the air. But then he noticed that the third zergling was headed through the air directly at his squad. He tightened his grip on his war hammer and checked the position of his teammates. By the time the zergling landed, his squad was ready for it.

  The zergling flipped over quickly and came straight at their squad, teeth bared.

  And then it died.

  It was over in less than an eyeblink. Peter’s hammer in the middle of its head, Yoon and Emma piercing its side, Lola and Jonas taking out a joint of the front arms, and Dima’s sword piercing an eye.

  They all stood there in shock, each of their strikes was a potential deathblow. Each of them had activated their speed skills at the exact same time, and the zergling didn’t stand a chance.

  Peter laughed, a single loud guffaw.

  “Well, that was easy,” Emma said.

  The rest of the team laughed too. Their laughter died off as they saw the other two zerglings were still fighting. Not everyone had their advantage.

  One zergling died after another, both injuring someone in that squad. As trainers rushed over to heal the injured soldiers, four more zerglings appeared among the anthills.

  Thor and Lauren started the cycle all over again, sending three zerglings flying towards squads. They killed the forth one themselves, since no one was ready for it. These ones were slowly dispatched, but without injury.

  The next cycle Frank’s group got their first zergling. They confidently attacked it at once, but with different results than Peter’s group. Two of them had hammers and hit the zergling’s head off center, away from the weak spot. But instead of glancing off, both hits shattered the zergling skull and it died instantly.

  Both of Rex’s squads now had a much better appreciation for the advantage the cuff could grant. It was one thing to see the magic powers that their trainers possessed, but it was quite another to experience it yourself.

  On both sides, squads were fighting, struggling to survive. Each time a squad would engage a zergling, they would go all out, fighting with all they had. The fight would last a while before the zergling finally died, and its body was shoved back down the rock face. Their faces were covered in sweat and zergling blood, and a not insignificant amount of human blood too.

  Standing in the middle of these eight squads was Peter and Frank’s squad. They stood unconcerned and relaxed. A few of Frank’s team had cuts along their arms, but were unconcerned with the minor injuries. This wasn’t worse than any training exercise. In fact they got to rest while they were waiting for a zergling to be thrown at them, so this was a bit easier than a normal day of training.

  It was almost fun.

  The day slowly moved on, zerglings being tossed up to them at a consistent pace. After a stan and a half, the zergling mounds were tapped out. No new zerglings appeared, so Thor and Lauren collected their devices and walked back up to the rock ridge. They had to climb over a large swath of zergling bodies, a black brush across the red canvas.

  “Congratulations on your first hunt everyone. Not every hunt will be this easy, but I am proud of you. You did well. Form up in a column again, and we will head back. Trainers, go ahead and distribute,” Thor said.

  As they got into
position, Rex walked up to Frank and Peter and a mass of orbs streamed out to them. The orbs automatically streamed out to their squads, and each of them was three orbs richer.

  On the way back the were ambushed in the forest again. This time there was a coordinated attack by five saber-tooth monkeys. The monsters shrieked and attacked at the same time, jumping down all at once. Four of them were cut down by trainers in a flurry of fire and lightning. The fifth one landed in the middle of the column right between Frank and Peter’s squads. Their training had kicked in and they had weapons out by the time it landed in their midst. The saber-tooth monkey stood on two legs and struck out with its four other limbs, each aimed at a different soldier.

  Peter caught a claw on his shield and activated his speed to counter-attack. At the same time, Yoon got clawed across her shoulder, sending her spinning to the ground. Jonas and Dima had each narrowly avoided claws aimed at them and counterattacked as quick as they could.

  Peter, Jonas, and Dima struck forward with all their speed and might, but each of them missed completely, causing them to stumble forward. The blue monster had easily twisted out of the way of their attacks and sent each of them flying backward in a high arc. After fifteen feet, they crashed into tree branches and fell to the ground in a heap.

  Three bodies lay motionless on the forest floor.

  Chapter 12

  “You still with us?”

  “Huh?”

  “No dying on duty, it isn’t allowed.”

  “Whuh?”

  “Not exactly the best response when I am trying to determine if you have brain damage the healing missed.”

  It was then that Peter collected himself. He was lying on the forest floor, Rex staring into his face with concern.

  “I am fine Rex. I started out this stupid. I have always gotten myself into trouble rushing into things,” Peter said.

  “Well shit, if I had known that, I wouldn't have wasted all this time training you,” Rex replied with a smile. He helped Peter stand up and walked with him to get back into formation. Apparently, he was the last one to be healed, Jonas and Dima were already standing in formation.

  His squad crowded around him to make sure he was ok.

  “Are you feeling ok? It took Rex much longer to heal you than the others,” Lola said and put her hand on his arm. She stared at his eyes as if expecting to get answers even if Peter didn’t reply.

  “I am fine, I feel good. All healed up,” Peter replied, a bit nervous about how close she was.

  “You should be more careful, that monster was deadly. When Dima and Jonas got up and you didn’t, I thought ...” Lola trailed off.

  “It is all good, no permanent harm. I guess I will be more careful in the future,” Peter said, a bit embarrassed by all the attention. He understood that they had been worried, but he hadn’t had any time to get worried himself. One moment he was attacking, the next he was talking to Rex. It wasn’t traumatic from his perspective.

  The rest of the trip back to base passed without incident. There was a delay before they entered the gates though. There was a Troll visiting, doing an inspection. Rex had them stand outside the gates and wait until the Troll was gone. He didn’t want the new soldiers to mess up their first meeting with the powerful Trolls.

  “If you see a Troll, the proper thing is to stand still and stare it straight in the eyes. The Trolls are usually reasonable, but if it looks like you are hiding something they might try to beat it out of you. So; see a Troll, stare it in the eyes. Don’t look away,” Lauren said to the group as they waited. After a bit, they saw the alien transport leave, and they walked through the gates.

  Peter was looking forward to lunch, the healing had left him very hungry. But it was not to be, they were led directly to the conference room and given training on how to use orbs for upgrades. Then their trainers walked them through their upgrades. He pulled up his cuff screen.

  Peter was frustrated at first, it looked like his screen had changed set up when he wasn’t looking. But soon he figured out that it was mostly the same, just sections had moved around a little. No wonder the trainers had to help with upgrades at first. Even when you knew what word to hit, the cuff didn’t want to make it easy on you. Peter’s team got their strength upgrade, and Frank’s team got their speed.

  As the upgrade went through Peter felt a rush of power and tingling all along his skin. It was different from the first time, stronger somehow.

  “That felt ... different,” he said.

  “The more you upgrade, the stronger it is. The cuff is changing you at a fundamental level and your body wants to fight against it. The higher your level, the more it starts to hurt. The level twenties I know say that it is slightly unpleasant, but the trolls tell us that they are often knocked unconscious with the pain. Everything has a cost, just be glad that your cost is still low for now,” Rex said.

  “Hey Rex,” Emma said, “As long as we are talking about cuff powers, what exactly are they? Like, I know we get orbs and use them with our cuffs, but what exactly are orbs and how does our cuff use them?”

  Rex spread his hands wide and said, “Magic.”

  Emma huffed and put her hands on her hips, giving him an evil stare. Which would have been more intimidating if she wasn’t small and cute.

  Laughing, Rex gave in, “All right, all right. Gather round, I only want to say this once,” he checked to see if everyone was listening, “The energy in the orbs, it is kind of like life force energy, found on planets across the galaxy. Some planets have more energy, some have less. Earth is in a dead zone, Omicron is in a zone full of orb energy. Animals harvest that energy when they eat plants or other animals. It isn’t like a soul or anything, it is more like electricity. The animals act like batteries, storing more orb energy the longer they live. Orb energy exists on a slightly different plane, you can interact with it but it isn’t made of matter so you can’t touch it.

  “Someone once told me that the cuffs use orb energy to create little nanomachines to improve our body, but that isn’t quite right. There is complex machine coding in the cuffs, but nothing physical ever gets created. Maybe spiritual nanomachines are closer to the truth. An artificial intelligence manipulates the way that orb energy interacts with our physical bodies to create a phase change impact. Even our passive effects take millions of quantum calculations by the cuff just to regulate it.”

  Seeing that most of their eyes had started to glaze over at that point, Rex threw up his hands and said, “Bah, that is why I just call it magic, it is hard to understand. Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and all that. Whatever, on to the next activity.”

  To their delight, the next two stans were playing games again. The same games as before were much more fun, now that both squads were on a level playing field. They played tag, red rover, capture the flag, arm wrestling, and leg wrestling. Red Rover was particularly fun, their enhanced speed and strength meant that the collisions between sides were epic. Peter’s team still won more of the speed games and Frank’s team the strength ones. It seemed like practice and skill did still matter.

  It was cathartic to play and set aside the stress of the day. They didn’t have to be soldiers, they didn’t have to live up to their responsibilities, they could just play and relax.

  Towards the end of their play session, Peter found himself sitting on the moss next to Lola, both of them resting between rounds.

  “It was scary, seeing you lie there,” Lola said.

  Peter turned to look at her but saw that she wasn’t looking at him as she continued.

  “Your arm was broken, both legs, and your head was at a weird angle. But that wasn’t the scary part. The scary part was the suddenness. One moment we were running along, the next you were crumpled up on the ground. It was like the universe didn’t care that we were getting better, getting faster and stronger. The universe was saying that it could get us whenever it wanted. How do you live with that? How do you go on, knowing that one day
the universe will snap its fingers, and we will just be gone.”

  Peter didn’t have any answers, but he reached over to Lola and put his hand around her shoulder and pulled her tight. They sat like that, not talking, until Rex called them all back.

  The next morning dawned and they started to settle into a routine of running, calisthenics, Kobudo, weight training, and attacking wooden zerglings. Every so often they would run an obstacle course for variety.

  Two days later, they were eating breakfast in the cafeteria and saw Rex walking by to sit with the other trainers.

  “What day is it today, Rex? I would think that today would be Wednesday, but the weeks here have eight days, so what do they call today?” Jonas asked.

  “On Omicron they have longer days and longer weeks, so they have to change things up with the names for the days of the week. It may be hard to remember, but they call today Wednesday.” Rex said with a smile.

  Jonas smiled and said, “Arschloch. Ok so if today is Wednesday, what do they call the day after Sunday?”

  In a monotone voice Rex said, “It is the day that must not be named. Our only weekend.”

  “Ah come on, Rex, be serious for once,” Peter pleaded. But knowing that was a lost cause, he turned to the table next to theirs, soldiers that had been here longer than they had and asked, “Hey, help us out, what is the day after Sunday called?”

  Two of them turned back to Peter’s table and said in unison, “It is the day that must not be named. Our only weekend.”

  The three tables around them burst out laughing and Rex walked away. It must be some sort of inside joke.

  “That’s stupid, how do you have a day without a name?” Jonas said, mostly to himself.

  As they ran around the track that day, Peter could tell that the conversation still bothered Jonas, he kept looking back at Rex. When they stopped their run, he turned to Rex and said, “Can we go hunting today?”

  “Our training class only gets intel once a week, we always go hunting on Mondays,” Rex replied.