CHAPTER 22
GRAND MASTER
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I took the advice. I went back to my quarters and among the various uniforms that had been provided to me by the HQ staff, I found a Seattle cadet uniform in my size. Not one of the ordinary ones but a gala one, with its white pants, shiny black shoes, blue jacket with gold buttons and a white brim with a square and compass frieze attached to the front.
I wished I could have worn it to Christelle's funeral as a mark of respect for the occasion but I could consider myself satisfied with what I had already been granted then, Teyssier's forgiveness.
I looked at myself reflected inside a square mirror hanging on one of the walls of my room.
There I was, almost like the picture day at the end of every school year. But on the right side of my tired and visibly drier face than I remembered, there was a long scar still red, running from just above my right eyebrow down parallel to my facial line to the middle of my cheek.
I stared at myself trying to get inside myself through the sad eyes. That scar, as well as my face, had marked my heart. I did not know if Deena was still alive or if she had fallen back under the influence of my enemy. But I knew that if it was necessary to face her again, there might not be time to talk. In addition to John, should I have killed her as well?
I arranged my hat carefully, then after putting on my uncomfortable leather shoes I left the room to head punctually for the garden. Once there, I noticed how the environment was strangely peaceful and serene.
Inside the large rectangular courtyard were all kinds of plants whose tall green foliage covered the horizon, fully creating the illusion that the nearby fortress of Charon did not exist except in our nightmares. Various birds sang in the shade of the rich vegetation and enriched the air with pleasant sounds.
The long table full of chairs was arranged in the center of the garden, shaded from the hot sun by a beautiful gazebo with a thick white canvas roof. Burris was seated at the head of the table, while along with him were several high-ranking officers, colonels, majors, captains and even two generals, seated near the dean, more than twenty people, all men, occupying almost every seat. I approached the composed but talkative group of diners almost shyly, and Burris immediately greeted me warmly by rising from the table for a moment. I noticed that for the occasion he had also put on the richly decorated apron of a high-ranking Mason.
There were several like him, so many were only seen at important receptions at the Royal Arch Circle in the academy.
"Ah here is our hero! Gentlemen, I present to you Major Lester, son of the great Cillian Lester", he exclaimed, embarrassing me. The officers stood up and gave a little applause. I did not feel worthy of all that attention. Trying not to blush, I silently went to the seat Burris was pointing me to.
"Nice to meet you Major", greeted an officer with Asian features sitting across from me.
"It is a greater honor," the man sitting to my left did likewise. I was one seat away from Burris. To my right was an open seat and also to the right of the man in front of me. As I took the brim off my head, I heard the sound of a hovercraft landing not far from the mansion. Burris smiled and went to sit in the empty seat next to the guy in front of me. While all this was happening, I felt a pat on my shoulder and turned around surprised.
"How are you doing Little D?", greeted dear Bob.
"You here? I thought you were dead!", I said all too loudly.
"Yeah, me too! For once we agree!", he said as he went to sit beside me. "Instead, here you are taking the applause".
"I was in prison until a few fucking weeks ago. What's wrong with them all?", I muttered in a low voice.
"Maybe they don't know anything about that", Bob surmised.
"Don't they? I'm the only one who got on board that thing, condemned by the deans, arrested on Luna and brother of that asshole! These are all big shots, how do they not know?".
"D don't know what to tell you", he shrugged. "Is there any food?".
"How did you end up here?", I asked.
"Easy. At one point in the training, I learned that the plan had been postponed. Then I found out that you guys had been discovered, and I immediately thought the worst".
"But ... didn't you end up in irons?".
"No. They didn't find out our location. After all, we were in the middle of a jungle I can't remember where, with four tents full of mosquitoes and a broken-down aircraft. Good thing I at least had some fun".
"I guess how".
"Yeah, well, if you remember I always get a lot of satisfaction from the fruits of my job", he said with a smile.
"You owe me an arm, Bob!", I recalled waving the prosthesis in front of his face. Bob had a real obsession with explosives and explosions. I owed him my impairment and the skin graft in my face. During a drill he triggered charges we placed too early and I was left in shreds. That was the end of our cooperation. In time I stopped hating him, yet it was always hard for me to trust him.
"Oh c’mon, back with that old story! It was you who...".
"Aren't you going to salute me Sergeant Roath?", asked Burris.
"I beg your pardon sir", replied Bob standing at attention jumping from his chair.
The dean burst out laughing. "Gentlemen, meet another one of our heroes, Sergeant Robert Roath, our young explosives expert".
There was applause and the boy smiled embarrassedly, rubbing his neck with his right hand.
"We are famous, uh Daith?", he commented cheerfully.
"We are screwed not famous", I replied less enthusiastically than he.
"All rise in the presence of the Grand Master of Humanity and Guardian of the Federation of Earthly Domains!", a soldier suddenly shouted, appearing almost out of nowhere. Everyone snapped to their feet, standing to attention. I didn't know what was about to happen, so I put my brim back on my head and like my fellow academy member snapped to attention, following events out of the corner of my eye.
From behind the excited soldier appeared him, the Grand Master himself, closely escorted by no less than two cuirassiers inside their blue assault exoskeletons and four soldiers in rather well-placed black and gray combat suits, armed with heavy assault rifles, certainly SpecOps.
The Grand Master was dressed in a general's uniform, without the usual white apron, and he differed from the normal senior officers by the gold plates that formed a purely ornamental flake armor covering his shoulders and the gold crown with three small gems that he wore on his head. He had trimmed his beard and mustache and looked less uptight than he appeared on the net. Indeed, the air there was abnormal for the horrible situation that was being experienced, and only then did I really take notice.
"My dear dean", the Grand Master greeted him with a smile. Burris walked toward him, and His Excellency greeted him with a hug.
"Are they friends now?", I whispered half-mouthed to Bob, equally puzzled by that mutual courtesy.
"Your Excellency it is an honor to have you among us. Algdgadu", Burris greeted him familiarly.
"Are our young heroes here?", he asked.
"Sure. Major, sergeant, would you come here please", the dean called us unexpectedly. Bob and I widened our eyes frozen by such an unexpected situation. It was an immense honor to even see the Grand Master in person, and now we were about to meet him. My palms began to sweat.
"Gentlemen?", called Burris again upon seeing us frozen at attention.
With martial step and in single file we went to report then placing ourselves side by side, rigid with our gaze lost in the void as per protocol.
The Grand Master smiled. "Take it easy cadets, take it easy. Stay calm and relaxed. Know that it is a real privilege for me to see the two heroes who are about to save us all".
As commanded, we opened our legs slightly and put our hands behind our backs, tapping our heels on the ground, then responded in chorus, "Thank you, Your Excellency!".
"You must be hungry Your Excellency", Burris said smilingly.
"Sure Evan, I came from Kindu after a direct flight on a military hovercraft".
"Go ahead to your seats", the dean told us", please Your Excellency, have a seat, at the head of the table of course".
We went to sit down preceding the Grand Master, who went to sit a very short distance from me. The education I had been given since I was a young boy was paying off; I felt a reverential awe for the man, a deep and unquestioning respect and obedience. I was imbued with a state of insecurity that even Deena had never been able to unleash in me. Perhaps, they were things that developed on too different planes from each other.
The soldiers of the escort positioned themselves here and there inspecting the courtyard, while the two heavily walking cuirassiers arranged themselves behind him, motionless with heavy rifles in their hands. The waiters began to bring food and the diners resumed conversing with each other as before the Grand Master's arrival.
"So, Evan, is everything ready?", he asked.
"Yes Excellency. Rather, has the Palladium been able to get through the atmosphere? I know that it is the first ship of that size to try and that it is almost a jackpot for the engineers who have been working on it".
"I admit, it's a risk. It could be the biggest embarrassment in the history of Humanity if it crashes to the ground, wouldn't it?".
"Your Excellency, what does the Palladium look like?", asked the officer next to me. "How big is it?".
Suddenly the treetops were shaken by a sudden turbulence and an avalanche-like noise began to increase in power. The escort soldiers immediately pricked up their ears and rifles while the confused cuirassiers took to looking around.
"Calm down, brothers", said the Grand Master. "It has arrived".
I looked around frantically in imitation of everyone else there, while the Grand Master chuckled contentedly. The air stopped swirling as the noise became louder and louder, almost unbearable. Then suddenly it became dark and the clouds above us parted as the huge spaceship descended swiftly toward the ground. We could see only the underside of the endless structure, smooth and curving upward like a ship's keel, only much less pointed.
"There it is, everything seems to be working", said His Excellency suddenly. "I admit I didn't dare to look! Here's our payback. The Palladium, Infinity Class, 1250 meters long, up to 260 meters wide, with a crew of 500 good astronauts trained at the best academies, has two internal hangars containing 20 space fighters each. Fifteen missile launchers, seven forward guns, six aft guns and two rows of one hundred electromagnetic ballistic cannons on each side of the ship".
"Fucking Gods", Bob improperly exclaimed as the ship descended and took more and more of a definite shape. The immense dark vessel was like an aircraft carrier encased within two metal shields. The top and bottom were two symmetrical dark metal claddings and enclosed within that sort of protective squashed cylinder the ship proper. On the top rose the bridge, the only structure that emerged from the protective shields like precisely the command deck of an aircraft carrier. The bow and stern were not beveled but flat and perpendicular to the ship's axis. After all, there is no friction in space. Behind them could be seen the two huge thrusters now at their lowest power, two gigantic engines protruding slightly from the armor.
The sides of the ship looked like the weakest part, since they were not covered by the two shields.
"Anti-meteor steel", commented one of the officers as he admired the shields.
"Very similar to that of the appendices of Diĝir-ga-šum", commented the Grand Master.
"But how can it be suspended in midair? There are no repulsors powerful enough to support such a mass. Even if they existed, everything below them would be crushed", I thought aloud then.
"In fact, it uses neither gravitational repulsors nor thrusters of any kind. The ship is too big", the Grandmaster replied. "Everything literally revolves around the main reactor".
"What's so special about it? A new model from TAE Tech?", asked Burris.
"No. The beating heart of Palladium is a modern antimatter reactor. It generates a reverse gravity well powerful enough not only to generate gravity on board but also to offset that of massive bodies like an Earth-sized planet. It is no coincidence that we have classified our future flagships as Infinity Class. They are designed to last forever. They need neither fuel nor refuel with solar sails. They have a range estimated at two to three billion years".
"That's impossible! Where does such technology come from?", said a stunned officer.
"Much of the universe is concealed by the Great Architect. By His benevolence and in His light, we are enlightened", replied His Excellency, understood only by the leading Masons.
We all stood with our noses in the air for several minutes before recovering from that extraordinary vision.
"Why... why didn't you use this... fucking thing immediately against Charon! Many lives would have been saved!", I suddenly exploded. The battle I had experienced the day before had upset me far more than I had thought. The gazes, from upward wonderment quickly changed to shocked at me. I realized my stupidity: I had dared to raise my voice against the Grand Master. The only one not concerned seemed to be Burris.
"You're right son", replied the Grand Master who was anything but offended. "The spontaneity of young people! Ah, I love them! We were not certain that the structure, once in the atmosphere, would not collapse or plummet to the ground or both. We didn't design the Palladium for that. We improvised tests, modifications, assumptions. We all hoped we wouldn't have to risk it after all these years of work, you can understand that I guess. But we had no alternative. We don't even know if it will take off again to leave the planet. The flagship was created to stay in space and remind the Domains that the human species is one, that we and everything are For the Glory of the Great Architect of the Universe. Win or lose, by now Charon has changed everything".
"I beg your pardon Excellency", I did in a submissive tone.
"It doesn't matter kid. I know you've been fighting hard lately. Well gentlemen, I'd say before it cools down, we might as well start eating, right? We will calmly admire Charon's fall".
It had been months since I had such a luxury. The meal amazing. Not that I had ever loved complicated foods to eat, however, I had lost the taste that came with being comfortable with my legs under the table. I was satisfied, I had not tasted food for months, I just ingested it. Bob was a real vacuum cleaner, so much so that even the Grand Master had occasion to joke about it.
Immediately after lunch, waiting before His Excellency got up first, we all went outside the mansion to admire the spaceship suspended in midair a few kilometers from base camp.
Instead, following an imaginary straight line connecting them, we could see Charon's fortress in the distance. Now it no longer looked so strong, so invincible, although it still instilled fear.
Now the soldiers, who kept arriving by the hundreds from all over the globe, thought that at last they could fight as equals and that at last there was hope to hold on to.
Suddenly, from the outer ring of DGS flashed the lightning flashes I had learned to fear in Germany. The air vibrated as then but nothing disappeared. A crackle cleaved the air, ears whistled from the noise, the clouds around the ship exploded into a thousand particles.
Around the colossal spaceship a bubble of blue energy appeared, enveloping it entirely for a few seconds and agitating and coloring more at the spot where Charon had probably launched that mysterious discharge.
The Palladium was still there, ready to challenge Charon's power by embodying that of all Humanity. The Grand Master smiled in satisfaction, almost uneasily. The officers, Burris included, applauded and Diĝir-ga-šum did nothing more. John had taken up the challenge and we had his attention.
I went back inside amid the strange looks of the other military personnel. They looked at me and the other officers in ceremonial uniforms with a strange air of disappointment. I could almost read their minds, picking up as Christelle could their thoughts. But I wasn't like the other fancy hats, I wasn't some dandy watching the battle safely inside an HQ. I was one of them, and immediately as soon as I got to my room I was dressed in green camouflage.
I went back for more tests, ending up being reprimanded for eating too much by varying my mass to the point of forcing them to do new scans in the evening. Around eight o'clock in the evening, after a strictly diet and vegetable dinner at the camp canteen, I was summoned along with Bob to a summary briefing inside HQ. I was beside myself with excitement. The attack was set for noon tomorrow and hovercraft full of newcomers kept arriving from the cities. The decisive battle was upon us, and I might have a chance to close the deal with John.
Once inside the HQ briefing room, I noticed how everyone had been seated at a round holographic table. The Grand Master was not present at the meeting, and I thought perhaps his role in this was purely meant for troop morale. Dean Burris would instead be in charge of recapping the mission to the coordinating officers. Never was I more proud of the man than I was at that time. I would never have thought, always seeing him in the midst of such minor chores as a fight in the mess hall at the academy, that the man was actually so gifted and resourceful. Resources I couldn't quantify, since he alone could have gotten us out of jail a week earlier and I still didn't know how.
"The Big Boss isn’t here", Bob commented as he sat down next to me.
"Yeah", I replied, keeping my gaze on Burris. When everyone was seated, the lights were turned off and the holographic table suddenly lit up. The dean began to speak as soon as there was due silence.
"Very well it seems to me that we are all here", he exclaimed. "Let us now summarize the strategy for tomorrow. As you notice this you see is a reconstruction of the morphology of the battleground. These blue lines are the trenches that have been dug these days around the whole perimeter of the base that I'm going to call DGS because for long it's really a tongue twister. The trenches are not in good condition, no less than six assaults have failed since they were created, and trench 4, the one closest to the outer shield, is now abandoned and full of... dead bodies. Unfortunately, it has been impossible to get back into it and we have bombed it with firebombs, but something has remained and for the front-line units it will be one more hiccup.
As for distances, each trench is 60 or 70 meters away from the other, while trench 4 is 328 meters away from the external energy shield projected by the 4 base appendages.
Now, the appendages are lined with anti-meteor steel, so even the Palladium cannons cannot do much. Only the 98 MJ Raytheons (electromagnetic anti-ship guns) will be able to do anything; unfortunately, we have only mounted three of them, so they will not be enough to destroy the bulkheads. I remind you that the Raytheons' projectiles are hypersonic, so coordinate wisely with the artillery or you will be beaten to a pulp. The assault forces in trenches 1, 2, and 3 will only be either front-line support forces in trench 4 or antisort forces in case DGS makes use of legions of demi-humans, which we sincerely hope will not happen. Anyway... the frontline force will have the initial task of keeping the demihumans posted at the various loopholes in the outer face of the appendages busy. All attacks will be directed against the southern appendage and only on that one. We will concentrate our forces there.
While our good volunteers distract the demi-humans on the loopholes, the assault troops in heavy exoskeletons will advance covered by the forces in the trenches and the Raytheons until they head under the appendage. There they will wait for one shot at a time to create a sufficient gash to begin penetrating inside the appendage".
There was a murmur and I myself strongly doubted that plan. One was not sure if the tungsten bullets would pierce the anti-meteor steel and even if they had created a hole, a breach is still a breach. Easy to defend, exacting to conquer.
"Calm down gentlemen, questions later. I was saying... that they will start drilling, until they come up on the other side of the trapezoidal appendage. At that point, the SpecOps will proceed with the break-in and the lowering of the energy shield".
"But what is the Palladium for?", asked one officer.
"The ship will intervene if by chance waves of demi-humans pop up to complicate matters. Moreover, we know that DGS is not just a well-shielded fortress. It possesses a large volume of fire, and the Palladium will be our lure. But it will not be just that. Once the shield is neutralized, the second energy field will not be dissolved: the dome will be deformed and will protect the area controlled by the other three appendages, changing from a dome to a semi-dome. But we don't care, because we will just have to get to the transmission altitude of the special unit. The Palladium will fire new phased cannons that should at full capacity open a large enough gap in the double energy shield to allow us to transmit our package inside the fortress. But to do that we need to be closer, so we will have to neutralize one of the appendages".
"Special unit? What hole are we talking about?", asked a general there.
"It's a secret", Burris replied. "We just need a few millimeters hole to do the job".
"What prevents Charon from activating his weapon earlier?", asked a general.
"Good question Yann", congratulated Burris who was eager to answer. "Charon raided Heisenberg's Helium-3 a few days ago but its Viral Inductor takes much longer to be active. DGS's fusion reactor sends excess energy to the Inductor, which stores it. The efficiency of that thing is lousy, actually lower than that of the Palladium in comparison. We still have at least 15 hours before we start fearing that thing".
I shook my head but remained silent. How on earth did Burris know the technical details of DGS? How did he know Charon's eccentric technology so well? How was he so fucking quiet? I bit my tongue; I knew he would never answer. The other officers didn't ask any more questions either.
"Taking down all the appendages?", asked one of those present. "Is it considered a possible goal?".
"No... it would be too hard on the troops and would take time. Charon will feel threatened and pull the trigger without giving us a chance", the dean continued. "Better to make him think we are just wasting time. Everything is based on this perverse game. As long as Charon feels safe and ahead, he will play with us, wasting time. I would like to remind everyone here that if the attack fails, the Grand Master will authorize the orbital artillery to fire nuclear bombs. We have calculated a power of at least 1 gigaton to 100% destroy both shields and with them DGS. That means our entire nuclear arsenal, including Luna. Our loyal fleet has already gathered over New Jerusalem and is crossing in low orbit ready to fire. The space units of the Dominions have been… invited to leave. We'll see this one through by now".
"How gosh darned much is 1 gig?", I asked Bob, who may have understood something about it.
He crossed his arms and looked upward, counting in his head. "That's 1,000 megatons. I would estimate a crater of....".
"Krakatoa, 1883", Burris said. "That was only 200 megatons. The network is active, go see the effects. Hitting DGS with our warheads would mean condemning millions of people to death instantly, plus the ecological and economic damage to follow. It will be worth it if we fail of course. Sacrificing a few for the sake of Humanity is always acceptable.
But if it happens, needless to say, it will be the end for all of us, for New Jerusalem and all the towns and villages nearby. New Jerusalem alone is home to ten million inhabitants, with the lands exposed to the blast, shockwave and fallout comes up to fifty million potential civilian casualties. Tsunamis and volcanic eruptions could also be triggered as a result. Lester, Roath. The power to prevent it is in your hands.
I would now proceed to issue the specific orders. The Alpha unit will occupy trench 4 and provide clearance...".
Burris explained in detail all that was necessary, and I honestly did not follow him very closely. In the end, I didn't care at all what the other units were going to do. I would have to equip myself, ride in the truck with the device and just wait my turn. Once inside DGS, on the other hand, the thing was almost easy. As I had done the first time, move inside the pipelines and get to the mechanism, undermine it, leave somehow and blow it up. Or if forced, blow us up with the whole base, our choice. I, however, had my own plan within that operation.
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Dawn came. The sun was red and hot while the air was saturated with a strange humidity and very cold. The desert was not far away, perhaps that was why it was so chilly at night.
I rose early in the morning glad to be able to see the sun rise. The tension had forced me to take sedatives to try to sleep, but even with those I got up tired, stupefied and with my heart in my throat. I gave myself a thorough rinse and then got dressed. Outside HQ, the day had started at first light and there was much commotion. Hovercraft had arrived continuously throughout the night, and certainly the poor soldiers in the tents outside the mansion had not slept any better than I had. I came out of my room guzzling an energy concoction that had been forced on me as a meal. It was highly absorbent and was everything, both what I could eat and what I could drink. At least it wasn't too disgusting.
Once outside the wooden gates of HQ, I noticed how calm and still the atmosphere was. The soldiers who had spent the night there were still waking up, while rows of newcomers sat on the ground under the huge tents that had been set up for them. I felt a twinge in my stomach: how many of them would die that day?
I strolled back in search of some calm. It was 7 o'clock and as planned I went to the infirmary for yet another final scan. For the first time I passed Bob, also struggling with the scanner and energy drinks.
"What a fuss!", scolded Doc W, also freed from Sining prison and put to work again under supervision of a couple of SpecOps. "How embarrassing it would be if you had to go to the bathroom up there! Stop the nonsense and don't move!".
"I was a little itchy", he justified himself while inside the scanning machine.
"Do you care that upon arrival your pancreas is in place or not?", asked Doc furiously. Bob's eyes widened and he became like a pillar of salt for the rest of the proceedings.
"Doc, I have a small favor to ask you", I told him when it was my turn for the last scan. "I know the equipment that will come with us has already been prepared. Could you add this?". The scientist took a loaded pistol cartridge between his fingers and observed it carefully. I had spent the previous evening engraving two initials on the cartridge case, hypothetically imagining planting it in John's skull.
"A bullet? Will one more make a difference to you?".
"Just a good luck charm".
"You midwest superstitious brat. Fine…", he agreed in a soft voice.
I smiled at the scientist and he seemed to blush. At 11 o'clock the last exams ended and we were summoned inside my room to prepare for the mission. We would be presented with the equipment and clothing we would be using.
Once inside we found Burris and a couple of soldiers. On the rectangular table that stood not far from my bed were neatly arranged a few guns, coveralls, and other material.
"Your room is bigger, Little D", Bob said.
"You’re supposed to be more formal with a superior, Roath", Burris resumed him. Bob looked embarrassed and apologized to both me and the dean. I didn't give any weight to such formalities with my fellow academics, especially if they were friends, and I wasn't the only one who felt that way. Burris was definitely old school.
"This is the equipment you are going to wear. For you major, a thermal shielding suit in TW 30".
"Nice, great against mosquito bites", I commented sarcastically.
"Major, you're not going in there to make a killing. You will have to be ghosts… no, no, invisible viruses, to stay on topic. Only the effects of your intrusion will have to be visible, not you!", resumed Burris. "Now... your suit shields you from thermal detectors, motion-detecting radar, and also hides you in the visible spectrum. You’ll understand. Allow your SAI to detect and interface with the suit's computer".
I looked carefully at my clothing. It was a suit similar to a wetsuit, with a zipper that started at the navel and closed everything up to the neck. It was tailored for me and was designed to dampen noise and give the wearer agility. It was almost like a second skin, light and unnoticeable. The suit's software installed itself in my brain and in overlay, by augmented reality, I began to see a whole range of data. My SAI easily guided me in the use of that interface because of the conscious dialogue between us.
"You major will be a guide and support to Roath. You will remain in the shadows and to invite you to shoot little", the dean resumed by picking up one of the guns on the table, "you have been assigned these MK61s with 36 rounds".
"Only 36 shots?". I complained.
"Don't argue. You have always been too trigger-happy Lester, I know that. This mission is going to be delicate, and you are not delicate at all. One more word and there you go unarmed, understood?".
"Yes, sir", I replied through clenched teeth.
"Roath. You’ll have this Glock CX9, three magazines and these are the explosive charges. Now, about them...".
"They are... implosion detonators and these, on the other hand, are... wow... you didn't go easy on us!", Bob interrupted him, recognizing the tools of the trade.
"Tritium explosives. Three charges", Burris summarized.
"Sir I am not a Kamikaze! Do you have any idea what kind of bang will come out? What a crater?", he objected. I didn't like that. Bob loved explosions. A Bob who didn't like the bomb he was about to plant was a Bob who was telling me something important.
"Your orders are not to forcedly use all of them", the man cut in short. "At your discretion".
"Fair enough", soothed the young man. He was stressed, as was everyone else.
"Now you two have a quarter of an hour, then on board. The battle is about to begin", the dean dismissed us. We stood at attention as he left along with the other two men who closed the door behind them.
"I don't like it", Bob suddenly said.
"Take it easy", I reassured him. "It will be fine".
"I understand that it's important and if it's just the two of us blowing up, it's not serious compared to the other options. But this stuff is fucking excessive!".
"How excessive? Consider that DGS is made of very hard stuff".
"I hope it’s at least as hard as the Palladium's ass then. If we're not outta there at the boom we'll be dead at the boom", he explained. It was simple concise and extremely clear. I appreciated that.
"I hope we will still work together when this is over", I said, smiling.
"Count on it, Little D! Sir", he laughed, thinking of Burris. I laughed with him.
Once everything was in place, Bob put his backpack on his shoulders with the necessities inside and we went out in the direction of the wooden gate of HQ where we were expected. Once there, two big guys in camouflage escorted us between the tents of the huge base camp, which had undergone tremendous expansion in a matter of hours, to the truck I had seen in the moonbase workshops. It was the very one, unchanged since I had last seen it.
There was Doc W in his white coat and Dean Burris with him waiting for us, at the foot of the iron ladder leading up above the construction on the truck's trailer. Soldiers looked at us like freaks. Some Service members in black raincoats and their inseparable SpecOps gravitated around there, threatening the onlookers with their eyes.
"Well, now all you have to do is go up the stairs and slip into the pods. Leave the backpack to me, fatty", Doc said.
"That's Sgt. Roath to you, you weird fag!", reacted Bob indisposed and clearly on edge with anxiety.
"Don't insult him, that's the guy who teleports us", I whispered in his ear. "Sorry he's just a redneck!".
"Oh sure, says the one who grew up in Manhattan, doesn't he!", retorted Roath, getting angrier and angrier.
"Fatty!", retorted the scientist, raising his middle finger. "I’m gonna slice from you a few kilos at the jump!".
"Roath shut up and get on board! Major, a word", said the dean. I approached and he put a two-color capsule in my hand to swallow.
"What is it?", I asked, observing it between forefinger and thumb.
"One of the magic pills developed in Seattle by Dr. Johnson, obtained from studies done on you and your family. It is illegal; don't show it to anyone. It can keep you alive even if you’re critical, for many minutes. You’ll have an above-normal bout of rage but should notice a huge gain in all areas. But only if you are going to die major, otherwise deprive yourself of it".
"The riastharta".
"That's right. If you can do without it, do without it".
"Sure", I said accepting it with a thousand reservations.
"Daith".
"Sir".
"Don't hesitate. In front of you will be our John, but only in appearance. That's Charon. Not John. Our dear John is gone. Do not hesitate".
"Yes... sir", I nodded, masking my true feelings.
"Good luck son", he said with a pat on my back.
"Farewell dean. Lead these boys to victory", I said clutching the pill in my hand and bringing my fist to my heart.
"I will try to make them survive. Go with the gods, Lester. Algdgadu!", he greeted me again. I stood solemnly at attention, and he smilingly did the same. Turning my back on him with an elegant about-face, I climbed the stairs and entered the building.
Inside the strange cabin, I was immediately greeted by a guy in a white coat who immediately put his hands on me and quickly yanked me down another staircase leading down. There were two cylindrical tubes there that closed with a heavy, round door.
"Doc, Burris gave me this, it's supposed to come with me", I said wincing and showing Doc W the capsule.
"What a pain in the ass", he commented, "we'll have to scan it. I'll send it shortly after you, okay? You can't keep it on you or risk it melting with your brain or worse".
"Y-You take your time", I replied then impressed by some of the talk. I was already tense enough. Entrusting the pill to the doctor, I allowed myself to be locked in the dark inside the capsule.
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Time and sounds did not exist inside that empty limbo. There were no lights or windows. Soon I began to feel uncomfortable and claustrophobic. I tried to think of positive things and inevitably went back to thinking about Deena. For a moment, however, my mind was crossed by the memory of Sophia. I had not been able to see her after the events in Germany and in the turn of events, I had not even sent her a message. Needless to hope, my SAI had field inside a large steel tube and in fact the net was absent.
I would have given my all for her as well and would have hugged her again at the end of the war. I wondered if I should introduce her to Deena. I imagined for a moment their gazes crossing and sparks and flames arising from their handshake. "Maybe it's not a good idea", I replied aloud.
Suddenly, a bright light came on, and after a blink of an eye, I thought I could hear Bob's voice calling me nonstop.
"Daith! Hey Daith! Can you hear me Daith? It's okay! Man come on we have a job to do!" My partner's voice was really ringing in my ears. I opened my eyes and the first thing I did was vomit in shock.
"Gods I feel like fucking shit", I groaned, coughing and spitting the remnants on the floor.
Bob chuckled, "That wasn't so bad. Tell me, is everything there?".
"Everything?", I hunted both hands between my legs. "It's all there," I said consolingly.
"Come on, let's check if the material has arrived. Is this yours? I found it on the floor", Bob asked, handing me the pill. I took it and put it in my pocket.
"I can't believe it. We're fucking... we're inside! But... where?", I asked bewildered.
"Everything seems to be there Daith", Bob confirmed, closing the backpack that had arrived with us. He turned on a flashlight hanging from his chest and we looked around. A large metal chamber, shaped like an igloo, about three meters high and with a round door on one side, built in DGS's unmistakable pseudo-vegetable style.
We went out with guns drawn and popped into a control room with no one at work or on guard duty.
"Bob, they really do have a teleporter here in DGS!", I exclaimed. "How did they know?".
"One we can even hack. That's a lot to ask yourself, right Little D?".
"To which they wouldn't even give an answer Bob. If only John would tell me something besides threats and bullshit", I sighed.
"You say there are no sensors or alarms in here?", he asked, focusing on the mission.
"If they were there, I didn't notice. I activate the suit's detector", I said doing the same.
"Yeah, good choice. Then according to the AI, the source of energy lies that way, toward the east".
"Perfect. So, if memory serves, the mechanism is in the center, but the Judge's room is on the ring...", I recalled viewing the floor plans that my SAI had reconstructed based on my memories.
"Judge's Hall?", asked Bob puzzled.
"Then I must try to go up", I reflected aloud as I looked at the possible routes.
"We'll have to try to go down…", pointed out Bob, who was beginning to get suspicious.
"Well, I…", I tried to tell him that now it was time to part ways.
Bob laid a hand on my shoulder, then smiled as he looked into my eyes. "I knew", he said, "that this would happen. Don't worry, go get him. I planned for you to become my divertive all the time. I'll mine the mechanism myself; I can do it. And I'll mine it so that the base won't blow up in one go. Yes, those people out there will be damned, true, but still it will be the end for this deviltry and you'll have time to do whatever you have to do. I'll be able to calmly escape and save my own skin or... give you a hand to...".
“Don’t you even think about it”, I stopped him. "John... he... almost certainly, he will kill me. I can’t beat him, nor can you".
"Don't you dare let him! Trust me then, I'll take care of it here".
"I will hang in there. Farewell Bob. I forgive you for… for the arm. And the face. And I’m sorry for how I spoke to you".
"Oh", he marveled, "Thank you. You've, uh, taken a load off my back, you know".
"Don't spare yourself. Smash this lousy place like you did to me!".
"I’ll do even worse. Man", he smiled, patting me on the shoulder.
For a moment I hesitated. It was hard to place the fate of all the people out there in those clumsy hands. But I wasn't there for them; I was only there for Deena. And for him. I was there for John.
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