Future Winds (14 page)

An armadillo was an all-terrain armored vehicle with six wheels and suitable for nearly any situation. It had a massive high powered railgun attached to the top that reached from the rear to the front and two sets of missile launchers fixed to each side.

“Well, at least we get a vehicle this time,” Kaito said, forcing a frail smile. He was astonished by the armadillo.

It was the first time Leon had ever seen one in person and it was much bigger than he had previously imagined.

“These things are crazy expensive,” Kaito said.

“Which is exactly why you won't be driving. You will take control of the weapons, I will drive. Plug Libra into the exterior so that if we need she can project a shield over the entirety of the vehicle and provide an extra layer of security,” Leon said, forcing Kaito’s imagination back down into reality.

“Extra security?
”
The officer before them questioned. “These things have been rolled down cliffs and landed upright without so much as a scratch.”

The two approached the vehicle to get a closer look as soldiers finished packing it full of crates labeled ‘explosives.’

“What are we car bombing now?” Kaito said wide eyed.

The men laughed.

One of the young military noobies smiled. he was skinny and awkward with little to no muscle about him.

“That’s what I said when we got the orders to load you up. That whoever is taking this thing out doesn’t plan on coming back in. They are off to see Allah about seventy-two virgins,” he conveyed with an awkward laugh.

The young man clearly looked up to the unit of specialists. He had taken the similar idea of a joke to be a bonding experience. As if it would justify him as worthy to his peers. For a split insignificant moment in the history of his existence, the almighty recon squad that was Kaito, Leon, thought one in the same.

What a moron,
Leon thought.
Probably best to let him have his moment though
,
sadly, that will probably be the first and last positive interactions of friendship with his peers he will have
.
Who am I to take that away?

Leon entered the vehicle and took the driver's seat and Kaito pushed his way past the explosives, squeezing into the gunner.

“For such a large vehicle, it sure feels crowded with just two people. I can’t imagine cramming this sardine can full of its recommended number of personnel,” Kaito called out to Leon who sealed the doors with the push of a button.

“Hot as the beating sun on this planet too,” Leon mumbled as he fired up the vehicle’s engines.

Red lasers scanned his face from the dashboard before him and then turned green. The same sequence played out for Kaito in his gunner’s seat. After both of their identities were confirmed, the armadillo projected the holographic image of a woman whose robotic voice simultaneously came to life within the vehicle’s hull.

“Hello Leon Fleisher and Kaito Shimizu. I am Arma Thirty-Seven but you may call me Amy.”

“Holy crap,” Kaito gasped, “This thing is embedded with AI.”

“What’s the word, Amy?” Leon called out over the faint rumble of the armadillo’s engines.

“I have a set of coordinates,” she began. “We are to make way towards where there are two hellcat pilots searching for a living obelisk. The giant is considered hostile and dangerous so we are instructed to eradicate it via any means necessary and ultimately halt the threat it presents. We are to launch explosives onto targeted zones of its exoskeleton while the hellcats engage it directly. The target area will be first the legs. If we can blow them off, we will find ourselves in a much easier position to handle destroying the rest of the giant.”

On the heads of display, an image of the giant mountain-like creature was displayed.

Leon glanced back to see Kaito squinting to make out the imaging. He was squished in back in between boxes of explosives and the large control panel that controlled the vehicle’s main railgun.

“Kaito, come on up here and get a better look at this thing,” he called out.

Together the two watched the video of the beast. Amy zoomed in on the pressure points of the legs and projected lasers onto the areas they were to shell. The feed stopped and Amy's frame again materialized. Seemingly human, her holographic lips moved as she continued on with the briefing.

“This is a highly classified mission that will result in considerable corrective action if leaked,” she warned.

Leon never understood the need to portray artificial intelligence in a human like form until now. One might feel helplessly entrapped in this box of steel controlled by a greater presence, but looking into the eyes, even though artificial, of the being who controls your fate, was a feeling of comfort.

Aisha stood by the doorway to the bridge of New Horizon while the vice admiral leered, hunched over--plugging away at the holographic computer embedded within the table. They were the only two in the room since the pilots had left a little over an hour ago and all was inaudible.

After finalizing her lengthy commands via the table’s computer software, Fox stretched her back and let out a sigh turning towards the exit where Aisha still stood silently.

“I forgot you were even here,” Fox tittered, stopping before the girl.

“I suppose that’s a good thing,” Aisha said. Unsure of what she even meant by the phrase, she quickly felt foolish in second guessing herself.

“I suppose it is,” Fox said with a smile. “You hungry?”

Aisha nodded her head. She was famished. The last time she remembered eating a meal was years ago, just before going under cryosleep. Since she awoke her diet had consisted of nothing more than vitamin injections and stimpacks.

Fox leaned over to an intercom on the wall by the door and pressed her long narrow fingers on the touchpad, entering the numeric code of six, four, seven.

“Linus, bring in some food for myself and Miss Sayegh.” She let off the com system and turned back to Aisha, “I don’t usually eat in the bridge. Hell, I don’t usually eat at all, but the solace of this empty chamber is something you will find nowhere else on this ship or perhaps even on this planet.” She took a seat and ushered Aisha to do the same across from her.

One of the greys entered the large room. His blank stare reminded Aisha that he was not a human being but rather a robot. So near perfection as to replicate a living breathing man, the human eye would understandably mistake him as such if it be not for his grey armor.

“A man has just shot and killed five soldiers,” he announced in a monotone.

Fox shot him a look of disgust. “Has he been apprehended?”

“Yes.”

“Who was he?”

“Tyler Flynn, one of the specialist you delegated the task of mapping out the enemy cave.”

Fox shot a look of confusion to Aisha who whose face shared the same emotion, only coupled with concern. She had no idea what this could all mean.

“What of the other two? Leon and the Japanese kid?” Fox asked.

“They are heading off to begin the next mission you assigned to them.”

“They played no part in the killing?”

“Seems not.”

Another grey, humanoid robot entered the room. This one carried a tray piled high with roast beef sandwiches cut into perfect little triangles with the crust removed. Pieces of diced fruit: oranges, apples, and mangos lay sprawled out neatly on the outer edges of the silver platter. Fox picked up one of the sandwiches and bit into it with a look of pure bliss on her face. “Leave us,” she said before taking another bite. The two greys left the room and Fox looked to Aisha once more. “Eat up, it is quite good. Roast beef is a delicacy given we have no cows here on this vessel.”

Aisha's mind raced with questions of what had happened to make Tyler kill five soldiers. With little information on the matter, she forced herself not to think about it for now; for, she knew that if one dwelt too long on the unknown, the mind will fester the unease quickly into an emotion of terror and fear.

She picked up one of the perfectly cut sandwiches and bit into it: tomatoes, lettuce, mayonnaise, and roast beef all delicately encased in bread that tasted of honey.
Incredible,
she thought as she moved on for a second bite.

“You know; I am only second in command to Admiral Vetrov. He has to stay out in space guarding the president with the fleet while we warp in a carrier a day and try to establish a safe, livable city before the majority populace can arrive,” she paused and took a deep breath. “They don’t think that we can do it. They want to use the warp gate to shoot out further into space and find a more desirable planet.”

“Do you think we can do it?” Aisha asked with a mouth full of food.

“I have spent years planning with my peers on how to live and thrive on this planet. I think we are coming along just fine while they cower at the thought of residing in a place so distant from the one we come from. The reality is, we must accept change because that is the only thing the universe is selling right now. I do not know that we will ever find another planet as close to earth as this one. The odds of this one existing within grasp to the technologies that limit our reach is astonishing in and of itself.”

“People hate change,” Aisha said, stuffing her mouth with another sandwich.

“Aye, that they do. Tell me Aisha? The girl who cuts off her own arm in order to live, what does that girl hate? What does she fear?”

Aisha’s stomach wrenched, upset with the rate that she had practically inhaled the sandwiches. She was not even sure that she chewed them before ingesting them and her body become irate for it.

“I don’t know…I mean, fear is a useless emotion that only presents you submissive to another, granting them alpha male status.”

“And where did you learn that?” Fox asked with a chuckle.

“My father,” Aisha said, her eyes suddenly dropping in sadness.

“Interesting advice for his daughter, but from what I have read, you were an only child, so perhaps he saw you more as a son than a daughter. Maybe that is why the man from mars, a common miner, spent his every last penny saved in obtaining the rare materials that your sword is composed of.”

Aisha's sword was not only an extension of her body but at its core rested a fine piece of her soul. It was as much a part of her physically, as it was mentally.

“The man crafted a masterpiece and passed it on to his beloved daughter before passing away himself, but was his master work his creation of the blade or his creation of you?”

Aisha stayed silent, unsure what Fox was getting at.

“While on leave he went to earth for a year, met and married a dancer, and not just some pole slut, but a world renowned, award winning theatre act. In finding out his wife was pregnant, he extended his leave of absence from his work on mars an extra year and soon after you were born, he reshipped off to work.”

Aisha remembered dancing with her mother when she was a little girl. She had enjoyed it up until her mother's tragic murder. She had cast out the joy of dancing; for, it bore a constant reminder of her late mother. “How do you know so much about me?”

“I have read a lot on your history. It is interesting to say the least. After your mother's passing, you were sent to mars to live with your father who began training you in various types of ancient swordplay in his off time.”

She always hated mars: dramatically cold with nothing more about it than a collection of depressing outposts and refuel stations. Its small, controlled population was nothing more than mechanics and miners whose only true love was that of alcohol and hookers. Certainly, no place for a young girl to be raised.

“The life expectancy of a mars miner is only thirty years. Your father lived to see the age of thirty-nine but never got to see you join the military, let alone climb the ranks wielding the sword he crafted for you,” she paused for a moment in thought. “An interesting life indeed. Anyway I am sated, suppose it's time we take a look into the actions of your comrade... see why he found it necessary to gun down five of my soldiers.”

Aisha had forgotten entirely about the situation with Tyler. Her mind began to fill with murky clouds that beckoned with ideas of reason and forced her stomach to feel sick with anxiety. Nevertheless, she mustered the strength to stand to her feet and caste out the feeling of unease as she gave the vice admiral a forced nod in acceptance. 

***

Ness stared helplessly over a three headed dog as it feasted on the mangled corpse of his younger brother, Lucas. The animal was missing its skin: exposed muscle dripped blood onto a ground powdered with fresh, cold snow that quickly turned from white to red. Each head snapped and fought with one another for a chance to sink teeth into the little boy: ripping apart his insides and consuming the flesh with little effort made in actually chewing the meal.

They were atop a mountain where the wind howled and stung Ness’ face, but he did not feel afraid or confused as to what he saw. He merely watched the beast ingest his younger sibling alive as if it were a normal day and all was well and right with the world.

Lucas squirmed in the crimson snow, covered in his own mess. He reached out to his older brother for help in his hopeless state. His legs were gone and his insides emanated out his open belly.

Ness closed his eyes for but a second to blink. He opened them to now see life from within a glass cage. He was a bird, shrouded in leaves, perched on a branch within a tree. Inside New Horizon, he watched as military men and women walked past his cage with blank stares, entering into a large open room where they collectively laid flat on the ground, submitting themselves to their fate--which was of death to a woman in a white trench coat.

She was tall and thin with black hair pulled into a ponytail exposing a scar on her forehead. Her lab coat was covered in blood. She walked over their bodies wheeling a small corroded cart that pulled hundreds of very fine, razor sharp, wires. As she pushed her cart, it gave off a sharp squeal with each minute turn of the rusty wheels.

The wires dug into the sea of flesh as the bodies quickly began to drown in a bath of their own blood. A line of people had formed at the entrance, patiently awaiting their turn to enter and die. The room now stunk of death and decay.

Ness awoke drenched in his own sweat, frantically gasping for air. He felt as though no matter how hard he tried to intake oxygen, it simply was not enough. He began to feel dizzy and woozy as he tried to make sense of himself slowly coming into full consciousness. Unsure as to how long he had been asleep, he tirelessly rose from his soaked cot and looked around to be sure no one was watching as he peeled off the wet clothes stuck to his skin.

He dropped his soggy apparel to the floor below. His bed was a bunk that set atop other sleeping civilians. The clothing hit the ground like a sponge full of water and he immediately regretted dropping it so carelessly, as he now realized it was the middle of the night and that most people in his block were fast asleep.

I wasted my half day sleeping
, he thought as he headed for the showers with a fresh pair of clothes in hand.

Two guards passed a flask back and forth as they watched Ness scurry off to the showers in nothing but his skivvies and his face dripping in sweat. Firing him the stink eye, one of the guardsmen drunkenly mumbled something under his breath, but he was far too gone to stand, let alone exert energy communicating with the boy. The other slumped over in laughter after hearing whatever was said. He whispered something to his comrade then vomited chunks of brown mess onto the floor. They looked at each other and continued laughing and drinking.

***

Tyler gawked dejectedly at the wall as he sat on the edge of a steel cot in a small jail cell aboard New Horizon. His face was pale and his stomach wrenched in sickness. He wanted to continue vomiting, but there was nothing left to heave up after doing so for the first few hours since awakening in his new found cage. A hydraulic door to the jail room opened, but he did not bother turning to see who entered into the room.

“To your feet soldier,” said a firm voice.

He glanced over to see Vice Admiral Natalia Fox looking through him with her piercing stare and he sluggishly shot up to his feet. Behind her stood Aisha.

She is alive,
Tyler thought in relief,
and she even has a prosthetic arm.

“You do not look at her, you look at me,” Fox shouted.

Falling back down to the reality of the situation at hand, he slumped in horror as his eyes drifted back to meet the vice admiral’s.

“I watched the video feed of the slaughter as I walked over here. You do realize that given the salvation space treaties, the act of killing military personnel is not only considered a crime against humanity, it is also treason. You are facing these charges on five accounts. Rotting in a cell will not be an option nor will the death penalty. You see, Tyler Flynn...” Her eyes locked onto his as she got closer to his cage. “Life is not wasted in this day and age. Your body will be donated to science, the kind of science requiring the body to still be alive and functional, to perform brave new extensive testing.”

His face maintained a blank stare of emotionless display. There was nothing he could do or say to alter the situation even slightly in his favor, let alone ease the fury Fox had towards him.

“So tell me Flynn, why did you do it?”

His lips were dry and stuck together. He managed to peel them apart and open his mouth, but no words formed. He had run the event over hundreds of thousands of times in his head. Again and again and again, yet still refused to accept that he was capable of doing something so barbaric and cold.

She raised her eyebrows, wordlessly expressing the fact that she was awaiting an answer. A few minutes passed and she turned her back to him. It was then that he realized
this
was as good of a trial as he were ever going to be granted.