Proxy War

by Adam Sampson

  The trip there was just as insanely fast as their previous trips on the floating alien transport. But this trip on the back of the transport was much more comfortable. All of them were much sturdier than when they first got here thanks to the advancements from the cuff. Plus, two of the shield mages from the other squads put up shields to break up the rushing wind.

  Base Beta was different from base Alpha in a lot of little ways. As they flew in, they saw that the surrounding terrain was very hilly. Round hills of sandstone surrounded the base, each hill striped in different colors of rocks, light blues, deep reds and taupe in between. The rock hills stood in rows, like soft teeth of a herbivore. Red dust was still present, but over rocky ground instead of soft soil.

  Sergeant Yarrow was there to show them the ropes once they landed. He was tall and skinny with deep brown skin, and short hair in a military haircut. He spoke in a deep voice that he obviously tried to make commanding, but had a kind uncle quality. He was their commanding officer, and promised them that he would be much more hands on than their previous command. For the first several hunts, he or one of his Ensigns would be going with them, and he would provide continuing training. Sergeant Yarrow started off with showing them around.

  Walls surrounding the base were in the same alien style, but much lower, only twelve feet high. The base itself covered a much smaller area, the barracks going up instead of out. Apartment buildings stood all in a row, the white stucco contrasting with the surroundings. One nice difference is that each squad got their own apartment on base. Each apartment had a couch in the main room, and six bedrooms with doors facing into the common area. Not much of an improvement, but still good enough for all to be excited about the change.

  The cafeteria was the same, perhaps boring cafeteria food was a universal constant. One major change was the commissary. Like a general store, you could buy anything at the commissary. All of their basic needs were provided for by the Protectorate, but this store was for everything else. Candy, entertainment, civilian clothes, anything you could want. Instead of money, the commissary accepted orbs. A simple touch of the cuff and you could transfer orbs to pay for your party-size funyuns.

  They all wanted to shop at the commissary right away, but the Sergeant stopped them, and took them on a tour of the armory. Unlike the armory at base Alpha, this armory was full of weapons they could buy. Exotic looking bladed weapons, strange cudgels, assault rifles and grenades. In addition, there were optional upgrades to their uniforms, or strap on armor. Sleek helmets, carbon fiber chest plates, and motorcycle boots. Again, all purchases were for orbs.

  Sergeant Yarrow also showed them the exercise yard, which looked like a scaled-down version of the fields at base Alpha. Towards the back of the field, there was a building that looked like an unfinished apartment building that he said was for urban combat training. Less than half the facilities were in use, and Yarrow explained that was because training was no longer mandatory. It was entirely optional, and most people decided to spend their time relaxing or hunting.

  There were several entertainment options: a few soccer fields, two basketball courts, a holomovie theater, an arcade, a bowling alley, and a few others. There was a small selection of bars and restaurants open every night, much better than the cafeteria, but they cost orbs. There was even an art studio and a machine shop. All in all, base Beta was a much more fun place, as long as you could afford it.

  The next morning they had to themselves, and Sergeant Yarrow collected them a stan after breakfast. Peter’s squad was first, and the seven of them ran out the south gate.

  Over rolling rock hills, through narrow sandstone canyons, and finally down a long mountain trail into the first real vegetation they had seen since they got here, a sapphire blue knife forest. They ran through the forest, and the sergeant stopped them at the edge, overlooking rolling hills of blue soft moss. The moss was just like that on the training grounds, but with large round holes dotting the landscape, red dirt exposed.

  “Today we are hunting hippo-worms, something you should be familiar with. These ones are stronger than the ones you are used to, like everything here on Base Beta. Still, it shouldn’t be too hard for you, and it will give me a chance to see your skills. Since I am here as your protection, I will be getting a cut of the orbs. But I won’t be participating unless you all fail miserably,” Sergeant Yarrow said.

  Peter’s squad turned and looked at Jonas.

  Jonas threw up his hands and said, “Whatever, let’s do this thing.”

  Emma snickered and Yoon shushed her. Jonas had a very bad experience each time they hunted hippo worms. The creatures burrowed into the ground like worms but had blue skin that matched the surrounding moss. With this camouflage, the hippo-worms often ambush their prey. Jonas had the extraordinary bad luck to be attacked each and every time they hunted the beasts. Not just once a trip, but each hippo-worm they killed tried to take a bite out of Jonas first.

  After the last time he was almost eaten, Jonas asked them to never hunt the evil beasts again. Emma thought it was hilarious, but the rest of the team had some sympathy for him. They had to carry him back to base a few times with injuries too severe for Peter to heal.

  “Hey uh, Sergeant,” Peter said, “Do you care how we go about this? Are you looking for a specific type of team work, or is it ok if we use creative methods as long as we get the job done?”

  “Just show me what you got, soldier,” Sergeant Yarrow said.

  Peter smiled widely and turned to Jonas, “I think we can keep you uneaten this time, buddy.”

  “I hope so, show us the good stuff oh fearless leader,” Jonas said.

  Peter backtracked a bit and found two large rocks, about the size of his head. With his telekinesis, he made the rocks play leapfrog, leading the way in front of the team about a hundred feet out. As they walked, they put Jonas in the middle of their squad and Peter walked closely behind him.

  After about twenty minutes, the hill next to the leapfrogging rocks opened up and swallowed them whole. Four huge teeth framed the enormous mouth that was slamming shut. Mossy hill wiggled, revealing itself to be the largest hippo-worm this squad had ever seen. Sensing prey the beast turned and moved towards the squad. Yoon and Emma stepped forward and shieldbashed the hippo-worm from two sides, stunning it. Lola shot as soon as it was stunned, but the shot just bounced off the springy hide. Peter kept the beast’s mouth closed with the usual trick. Dima and Peter used this time to get into position and used their windstrike skills to make simultaneous deep slashes in the hippo-neck.

  Three more strikes from the warriors downed the beast, eleven orbs floating up as a reward.

  Jonas smiled, turned to Peter and said, “How did you know that would work?”

  “I based the walking of the rocks on your walking gait,” Peter said with a grin.

  Jonas groaned and pushed Peter away.

  “I really did,” Peter said to everyone’s laugh.

  Six more rocks and three more hippo-worms netted them thirty-three more orbs.

  “Good job, squad. You are off duty until tomorrow night, meet me at the east gate a stan before nightfall. Dismissed,” Sergeant Yarrow said.

  Peter’s squad split up to check out the new base, enjoying all their new options. Jonas took Emma to the commissary and showed her the joys of German chocolate. Peter and Lola got ice cream. Dima went to see if the Turkish restaurant had döner kababs and Yoon wandered the armory, looking at prices.

  That night, Yoon called the squad together in their apartment to say something, “I hope I am not too forward, but I must ask something of you,” she said and turned away before forcing herself to look at the group again, “This place, this base. It is very expensive. They want our orbs for food, for silly weapons, for beer, for better toilet paper. I do not know what the command is using their orbs for. But that does not matter. If we freely spend our orbs on silly things, we will progress very slowly. You saw today how many orbs we got, yet they say most people take se
ven months to graduate to the field. I want to ask you all to save most of your orbs for upgrades so we can progress quickly.”

  “Well,” Jonas started.

  Yoon cut him off, “I know it is a lot to ask. But I think of my son every night and I must get back to him. It is mean of me to ask you not to spend orbs on fun. I know you deserve fun. It is fine to spend some on fun, but please do not let this place take too much.”

  “I was going to say, you are right,” Jonas said, “It seems like this place is designed to take our orbs and slow down progression. But I can get candy and toys at home on Earth. I am all for progressing quickly. We can sit down and make a plan for when we want to get out of here and budget our orbs to that plan. If we get a hankering for silly candy, we can just hunt more.”

  Most of the squad nodded in agreement. Yoon was touched, almost in tears at their answer.

  Peter asked in a small voice, “Can I still try out random skills?”

  “Of course, one of them is bound to be useful one of these days. Eventually,” Yoon said.

  Laughter broke up the tension.

  “Hey! Most of them are very useful,” Peter said to even more laughter.

  A night later, they assembled at the east gate and went hunting with Sergent Yarrow again. This time they hunted something new, keesels. They were small flying creatures that looked like a flying ribbon. Instead of flapping their wings, they undulated their thin sides to produce lift. Black and furry, they flew out of the series of tiny caves in the cliff face the sergeant had shown them. This time of night they were leaving their burrows to go hunting. The little monsters were vampiric, trying to find sleeping prey so they could suck their blood.

  After explaining this to the cadets, the sergeant set them loose, urging them to kill at least ten before they were all out hunting for the night. Emma had an idea right away and suggested it to Peter. He liked it and they implemented it as soon as the little monsters started leaving for the night.

  The sky filled with kessels, and their near silent flutters. Peter made two shields appear in the sky, each angled to force the monsters down as they avoided the shields. Then, all at once, five fireballs shot out, each one taking out a beast, some explosions taking out two. Lola was also shooting a buckshot of rocks, taking out kessels between volleys of fireballs. This went on until the caves were empty. Most of the beasts escaped, but they still had a pile of black bodies in front of them.

  Each kessel was only gave up a single orb, but they still ended the night at 55 orbs. The sergeant was more than impressed, not just with the pile of bodies, but the clever plan. He still urged them not to let the trolls find out about their literal firepower.

  It rained the next day, a rare occurrence that gave them the day off. The torrential downpour made most animals hole up and made hunting all but impossible. While exploring the base for something to do, Peter finally found the man he was looking for since the first day on base Beta. Alvin, a soldier he had been told was a member of Humans First. Peter took the time to meet with him alone, gave the correct passphrase, and asked him what Peter had been thinking about for months.

  “I want in, Humans First are the only ones standing in the troll’s way and I want to help,” said Peter.

  “No,” Alvin replied.

  Chapter 22

  “What do you mean, no? Dave said I need to be level eight, and I am already level nine,” Peter asked, surprised.

  The rebel looked down at Peter and said, “We have a certain standard, not just people that can keep a secret, but good people. Horrible people can’t help us save Earth. We won’t accept scum like you.”

  “Scum? Did you just call me scum?” Now Peter was bewildered. He asked, “Who said I was scum? I am a freaking great guy, ask anybody.”

  “We did,” Alvin said.

  “Seriously, who... oh. You didn’t actually take Flynn’s word did you?” Peter said, angry. He could tell from the look the rebel gave, he was right. Angrier now, he said, “You can’t trust that psycho. He is arrogant and mean, he tries to cut corners, he is lazy, he thinks all this is a game. He is going to get someone killed,” Peter said and threw up his arms.

  “He came highly recommended, you did not. Do not contact me ever again,” Alvin said and walked away.

  Peter stood there fuming for a while. He couldn't think about Flynn without swearing in his mind and thinking crude things about his mother. Clenched fists and a hard beating heart, he stood there motionless.

  This was supposed to be it. He had been working towards this for months, a way to avenge Simon and Chris. It was his motivation, he didn’t care about getting back to Earth, he only cared about getting back at the trolls. Only to have Flynn take it all away. The rebels were supposed to accept him, he didn’t have a back-up plan. What was he supposed to do now?

  Lola knew something was wrong as soon as he got back to the apartment. She hugged him tight and asked him what was wrong.

  Peter decided he could probably tell her why he was upset. He hadn’t told anyone on the team that he wanted to join Human’s First, wanting to protect them if he ever got caught. But now that he was never getting in, he could tell Lola what was going on.

  So he pulled her into their room (they were sharing one of the six rooms) and told her everything. His desire to avenge the deaths of his friends, getting a contact for humans first, and how Flynn had ruined everything.

  As he talked, Lola frowned deeper and deeper. When he was done, she stood up and said, “Du bist ein egoistisch archloch.”

  Then she left.

  He tried to talk to her as she left, saying he was sorry for not telling her sooner. He just wanted to protect her. She didn’t respond, just walked out into the rain.

  The rest of the squad was relaxing in the common room and overheard the last bit. Peter explained what was going on, how he had only wanted to protect them all. He was hoping for some sympathy over Lola’s overreaction, but got none. They felt hurt too, but not to the same degree. They mostly forgave him after calling him an idiot a few times.

  Peter didn’t see Lola until the next morning. She never came back to their room in the apartment, instead using the empty one to sleep in. He tried to talk to her again, but she just held up her hand and said she needed time.

  It was still raining that day, but Lola left anyway.

  Peter stood by the window at the back of the common room and stared at the rain. It reminded him of home. Most things about Omicron were so different, the land, the vegetation, the monsters. But the rain was the same, it was almost comfortable.

  Emma walked up and stood next to him and said, “Where do you think it all goes?”

  “What do you mean?” Peter asked.

  “I never see any rivers or lakes, where does the water go?” she clarified.

  “Lola said that it is all underground, the ground is super porous all over, and so the rivers and lakes are all underground. She says there are huge cave systems all over, particularly around Beta.”

  Emma turned to look at Peter, “You know you messed up, don’t you?”

  “With Lola? Yeah, I guess,” Peter sighed, “I just wanted to protect her, protect all of you in case I ever got caught. The trolls killed Simon and Chris when they were just suspect, there is a real chance I could have been caught and killed. I didn’t want to suck her into that.”

  “You are such an idiot,” Emma said and pinched the bridge of her nose, “You weren’t protecting her, you were pushing her away. You kept a huge secret from her, from all of us, you ass. Did you even stop to consider how she would feel if you were caught and killed? Did you think about how your death would affect her?”

  Peter looked away, “I don’t need relationship advice from a seventeen year old.”

  “No, you obviously do. Go apologize to her,” Emma said.

  “I tried already. She doesn’t want to talk to me.”

  “Yes, she does. Lola is just sitting alone in the cafeteria, looking up every time someone comes
in. She might hate you right now, but she does want to talk to you.”

  Peter ran his fingers through his hair, “Yeah ok. I will give it a try, I hate feeling like this.” He stopped before he left the room, “Thanks Emma.”

  Lola was sitting alone in the cafeteria, just like Emma said. Steeling himself, he went and sat across from her. Lola didn’t look up, she just stared at her empty plate. They sat in silence for a bit.

  Without looking up she said, “My mom died when I was eighteen.” her voice shook as she continued, “It was cancer. She died a month after we found out. My dad couldn't take the grief and threw himself into his work. I never saw him. I felt like an orphan. Everyone expects you to be an adult at eighteen, and just recover from the grief and move on. I was supposed to go to university the next year. But I couldn't go. My mom had left me, my dad had left me. I felt so alone.”

  She looked up before she continued, “But then I met you. I didn’t feel so alone. Peter, you made me feel safe and loved. Everything was going to be alright. And then, I find out you kept this big thing from me, and I wonder if you ever really loved me.”

  Peter reached out and grabbed her hands gently, stared into her eyes and said, “I do love you. I may be an idiot, but I do love you. I realize now just how big of an idiot. I wanted to protect you, but I didn’t think about how that would affect you. I don’t want to leave you alone, I want to always be there for you. I promise to always be honest with you too, I won’t keep anything from you.”

  They continued talking for a few hours. Lola promised that she would try to forgive him, but they still slept in separate bedrooms that night.

  The rain finally let up that night, and Peter was summoned to the sergeant's office the next morning. The four squads squad leaders from graduation day were there, Peter and Flynn giving each other dirty looks.