The first thing Magmar noticed as he stepped out of the
counselor's office, was that there were more curious eyes on him now
than when he'd entered minutes earlier. Shaking his head slightly
but unable to hold back a smile, he gave the onlookers a thumbs up
and made his way out of the administration hall. Finding a deserted
corridor, he turned to face his classmates.
“Are you guys gonna do it?”
“We're not supposed to talk...” Kataka began.
“I know, but I figured that was generic enough.”
Magmar cut her off. “No one's going to kill me for asking
that.”
“Well, you hope not...” Vandosu turned his head
from side to side, giving the empty hallway a few shifty looks. “Six
years tho. Did you catch that? Six years or more.”
Kataka nodded. She was a full head shorter than either
of them, making eye contact difficult as she stared at a spot on the
floor. “It's a huge commitment. But I'd already been considering
the military as an option. I still don't know what I want to do as a
career, and they're damn good at finding matches. I just don't know
if I want to be involved in something that doesn't look to have an
easy way out in case things go bad.”
“It's the military, do what they say and things won't
go bad.” Magmar assured both himself and Kataka.
As the three of them stood thinking about their latest
offer, noise began trickling thru the hallways. Magmar had almost
forgotten the exams were still going on. Most students would likely
be finishing up now.
Magmar slowly began walking towards the end of the
hall. “I'm gonna go eat before the cafeteria fills up. Wanna join
me?” He offered, before realizing his two classmates were already
following him.
“Oh yeah, sounds good.” Vandosu replied as a few
students passed them, grumpily heading towards the Counselor's
office.
“Ha ha...looks like Calculus II didn't go very well
for Cotus...” Kataka grinned as she watched a tall, dark-skinned
student storm through the administration hall. “They'll probably
let him take it again though, just to keep their diversity statistics
up.”
Magmar coughed, trying to wipe the blatant racist
comment out of his head. “Wow.”
“What? It's true!” Kataka persisted. “They're
required to pass so many of them to be considered Equal Opportunity
or whatever.”
“Well, Kataka, they'd probably let you retake it too.
Being that Calculus II is a math class, and you're a girl.”
Vandosu smirked as he strolled along beside her.
“I'd never take Calculus! I know I suck at math!”
Kataka huffed at him. “I don't know why these flippin' foreigners
think they should be given special treatment. If they can't pass it
with the same score as the rest of us, they shouldn't be allowed to
keep going.”
“Well, when you get to the rank of Commander, you can
put it in the suggestion box.” Vandosu proposed. “For now,
let's hope the Abborran chef is working today. I could really love
me some of those little meatball things he makes...what are they
called? Rappas? Those things are amazing...like saucy little
pouches of happiness.”
Kataka gave him a weird look, forgetting all about her
recent tirade. Eventually, they arrived at the cafeteria and much to
Vandosu's disappointment, there were no Rappas available. But they
loaded up with other options and were able to secure a table to
themselves.
“You do realize, Magmar, that there are physical
requirements to join the military?” Vandosu asked, watching him
pour extra gravy over his roast.
“Shit, you're right.” Magmar hadn't thought about
that obvious part yet. “Oh well. I think basic training lasts a
couple months so they got time to whip fat kids like me into shape.”
Vandosu laughed. “True.”
As the three of them ate their dinner and the cafeteria
filled up with more students, Magmar began to notice they were
receiving a lot of strange looks. It must have looked odd seeing him
with a pair of classmates he'd never spoken to. And although Vandosu
and Kataka may have met before, it was pretty obvious the two had
never particularly enjoyed each others company for an extended period
of time. Though they were no longer arguing about foreigners, they
were now in a heated discussion about pizza toppings and couldn't
seem to agree on a single one. Even cheese was debatable.
“Whoever thought fruit on pizza was an acceptable
practice ought to be tried in court for crimes against humanity.”
Kataka griped.
“And you think fungus is the solution?” Vandosu
looked appalled.
Magmar just shook his head. He remained silent for
most of his dinner, occasionally acting as a tiebreaker. But his
thoughts were still on the future. The secret project. The words
“human evolution” that Counselor Reeves had uttered. What did he
mean by that? And why would the militia be involved in it?
“You all done, buddy?”
It took a moment to realize Vandosu was talking to him.
“Yeah. I'm done.” Magmar responded, slightly
unfocused. He still hadn't touched half his plate. “I think I'm
gonna go back to my dorm and pack. Even if we say no tomorrow, we're
still leaving here.”
Vandosu nodded. “See you at 7:15.”
They parted ways. As Vandosu and Kataka headed towards
the dorms on the north side of campus, Magmar walked in solitude
towards his own dorm on the west end. But by the time he made the
long walk across campus, his desire to start packing had vanished.
All Magmar wanted to do was sign on the dotted line. He unlocked his
door, crossed the room and flopped face first onto his bed. He
barely even acknowledged his roommate's greeting.
“How did the exam go?” His roommate asked
hesitantly.
“Oh. Hey, Yuugo.” Magmar mumbled and rolled onto
his back. “It went alright. Actually I'm already getting job
offers.”
“Seriously? Did you get another 100? Damn I hope I
can get close to that on my Architectural Planning exam tonight.”
Yuugo shook his head and returned his attention back to studying.
Magmar was thankful he didn't push the conversation.
He wasn't really in the mood to talk and legally couldn't even if he
wanted to. He stared at the ceiling for awhile, lost in thought. As
the sun sank lower in the window, Magmar finally concluded he wasn't
going to figure out the ultimate plan of the Faylan Militia without
further details from the recruiter he was meeting tomorrow. He sat
up and noticed Yuugo was gone. Figuring he must have left for his
exam, Magmar took the opportunity to pack his things without any
questioning. It didn't take him long to get his already
well-organized belongings into boxes. By the time Yuugo returned,
Magmar was rolling up his last poster.
“You're leaving? Damn this sucks. Where am I going
to find another roommate that knows how to clean up his shit?”
Yuugo asked as he threw his study guide on his desk.
“Not my problem. How'd your exam go?” Magmar
asked as he slid his last poster into its designated slot.
“Not bad. Got an 89. Enough to keep going anyway.”
Yuugo replied.
Magmar stacked his boxes together in a neat pile.
“Nice one. Say, I've got an early meeting tomorrow so I'm gonna
call it a night.”
“Sure, kid.” Yuugo waved at him, his attention on
a new study guide.
Magmar pulled out his phone, and set three alarms:
6:30, 6:45, and 7:00. He reckoned it might be overkill, but at least
he wouldn't be sleeping through his meeting. By the time his head
found his pillow, concern over the future slowly faded, and he fell
asleep within minutes.
****
Magmar's alarm seemed to ring immediately after he
closed his eyes. Bleary-eyed, he tapped the cancel button and slowly
headed for the shower. He was halfway through his morning routine
when he heard the second alarm go off.
“Really, dude?” Yuugo mumbled from across the
room.
Magmar half laughed as he canceled it and removed the
third alarm. “Sorry, man.”
Magmar left his dormitory at 7:03. Slipping his phone
into his pocket, he made his way towards the lecture hall on campus.
The morning wind had a bite to it, and he was glad he opted to wear a
jacket as he crossed the athletic field in front of his destination.
Magmar was amazed at how many students actually got up early in the
morning to go running. Realizing this activity was likely in his
future, he shuddered as he made his way up the steps to the lecture
hall.
The lecture hall was divided into one large auditorium
to the right and several smaller meeting rooms on the left. He
turned left, found room C, and stepped inside. Vandosu and Kataka
were already seated. Magmar gave them a half-awake “Hey.”, and
joined them at the table. He'd barely taken his jacket off when the
door opened again.
Recruiter Shariz entered the room, slid the door shut
behind her and turned to face them. She was very tall, with short
blonde hair and piercing steel eyes. Everything about her was sharp,
from the way she moved to her facial expressions. Even as she spoke,
her voice seemed to tear into her audience. “Good morning. I am
4th Officer Shariz, Special Operations branch. I want to
thank the three of you for agreeing to meet with me.” She set her
briefcase on the table, opened it, and retrieved three tablets. She
pressed a few buttons on each screen before handing them out. “On
your screen is a simple questionnaire that I need you all to complete
before we discuss the project you were selected for.”
Nobody questioned her orders. The three of them
answered the survey in silence. Magmar noticed it was mostly generic
health questions, with a few “Have you ever...” scenarios. It
didn't take long to finish.
Shariz took the tablets, looked them over briefly,
nodded in approval, and handed them back. “Formalities.” She
said as she took yet another tablet out of her briefcase. “Our
base commander used to say if paperwork won wars, nobody would attack
us. Now, on to the project.” She swiped her screen to display the
familiar UMC that Counselor Reeves had shown them the day before.
Shariz tapped her screen again and the tablets in front of her new
recruits responded with the same display. Magmar recognized it, but
this time the section that had previously been labeled “Anonymous”
had changed.
“Ummm...excuse me...but what the hey is an Unarmed
Assassin?” asked Vandosu.
“Our latest weapon.” Shariz responded. “The
Human Phylogenesis project mentioned in this UMC refers to our most
recent discovery about evolution.”
Vandosu was about to ask something but Shariz put a
hand up to silence him. Promptly, she placed both hands in front of
her navel and closed her eyes. The students had little time to
ponder this peculiar behavior before their eyes were greeted with a
flash of white light, and the sudden appearance of a curved blade in
the recruiter's hand.
“Did you believe I was unarmed?” She asked,
holding the blade menacingly.
Kataka almost jumped out of her seat. “Oh my God, oh
my God, oh my God!” she gasped.
“Do you believe I could assassinate you?” Shariz
continued, her blade still radiating so much white light, Magmar
couldn't tell if there was any solid matter to it. The students just
stared at her in reverence.
“The answer to your question, Vandosu. This is an
Unarmed Assassin.” Shariz closed her eyes again, and the blade
vanished from sight.
Magmar continued his stare for moment. “Shit, just
give me the dotted line already.”
Shariz gave him a quarter smile. “Let me give you
the terms first.” She picked up her tablet and swiped the screen
again, revealing a contract with extraordinarily small print. Magmar
squinted as he looked it over.
“One thing I'm not getting...” Vandosu began as he
attempted to enlarge the text on his tablet. “...is how does a
shiny sword pertain to human evolution or whatever?”
“In order to answer that, I first need to explain how
the three of you got here.” Shariz replied and began to slowly
pace back and forth in front of her audience. “The truth is...none
of you failed an exam yesterday. In fact, you are the first three to
have passed it in all of Zainu.”
The three students gaped at her. “Ummm...what?”
Kataka was the only one able to squeak out a response. Shariz nodded
and continued her pace.
“History of Faylix. A few years ago, Zainu
University allowed the Special Operations branch to build a hidden
message into the final exam. This message was designed to single out
citizens who were ready for our evolution project. It works by
giving every student listening to the inauguration speech a hidden
command. It tricks the mind into giving a very specific answer for
the first essay question. Obviously, the hidden message did not
reach the three of you. This was the goal...to find citizens who
could not be tricked by this technology.” Shariz paused, looking
thoughtful.
“So...the Militia has been using mind control?”
Kataka questioned, her voice shaky.
Shariz frowned. “I can assure you, this exam is the
only time we're authorized to use it. But certain factions of
Malmormia are getting closer and closer to developing their own
versions. It is imperative we find a way to stop them.”
A profound silence followed this statement. Magmar
suddenly realized just how isolated “Room C” really was. There
were no windows or security cameras. And the recruiter's heels
clashing with the concrete floor offered the only sound apart from
their own voices. Exciting as this interview was turning out to be,
he was keenly aware that anything being said or done in the room
would draw no witnesses. Cautiously, he asked a question of his own.
“So if we didn't fail... why did counselor Reeves tell us we did?”
Shariz narrowed her steel eyes. “The counselor has
also seen that exam.” she replied. “He too, will only accept a
very specific answer for the first essay.”
“So being immune to your mind control means we get to
fail university? Well that sounds logical.” Magmar blurted out
before he could stop himself. Fortunately, recruiter Shariz didn't
seem to mind his sarcasm. On the contrary, she took his question
seriously.
“Yes, logic played a part. You are simply too
valuable for university education.” She replied, and shifted her
piercing gaze to Vandosu. “Now then, I believe you asked me how
the sword relates to human evolution?”
Vandosu looked perplexed for a moment, as though he'd
forgotten all about his question. “Oh! That's right...so are we
the only ones who can see it or something?” The recruiter stared
at him a little longer before replying.
“It is most definitely visible. The blade I've shown
you is what we call a Spirit Sword. A few years ago, scientists
began seriously experimenting with the process of splitting the mind
and body. Don't get too excited...” Shariz had sensed Vandosu's
growing enthusiasm. “The experiment failed. But they achieved a
sort of consolation prize for their efforts. They may not have been
able to separate the soul, but they were able to...in a way...expand
it...”
She paused to collect her thoughts. “Evolution
literally means to grow, to change, and to gain new abilities. When
the scientists failed and ran out of funding, the military took over
and figured out how to use their discovery as a weapon. That's what
we do. The Spirit Sword is an extension of the soul. And it can do
much more than cut flesh.”
“What else--” started Magmar, but Shariz cut him
off. “The project is too new to say for sure, but the sword will
grant you access to abilities that normally take hundreds of
generations to develop. And they will likely be as unique as you
are.”
“Sounds like we're literally selling our souls to the
military.” Vandosu commented calmly.
“I prefer 'loaning' to 'selling' but you've grasped
the concept.” Shariz replied. “And I want to make this very
clear: As with all weapons, your sword will still be the militia's
property. We decide what you do with it, but we will never force you
to commit a crime. The three of you will be assigned to a six-year
contract with an option to reenlist. I will also warn you, this
career is without a doubt the most dangerous we have to offer. At
some point, you will be in the enemy's living room. But we will give
you all the support and training you'll need.”
Magmar smirked and handed his contract back to the
recruiter. “There. I signed.”
Shariz looked at him, stunned. “You're making my job
way too easy.”
“Six years, right? That's all?” Kataka asked
warily. “Will I be able to get a first tier career when I'm out?
Or...I guess a better question...will I be alive in six years?”
“Six years, correct. And the experience you gain
from this assignment will have more value than any degree from
university. Now as for being alive, we always do our best to avoid
casualties. I cannot guarantee your safety, but I'll be frank: The
training is expensive, the demand is overwhelming, and the number of
qualifying young adults is absurdly low. That's enough for us to
keep you alive.” Shariz replied as Kataka signed her name.
“I'm just going to go ahead and sign, because I'm
getting this vibe... like... if I don't sign you'll brainwash me or
something...” Vandosu commented as he drew another loopy
signature.
Shariz put the tablets away and produced three
documents. “Everything you'll need to know before basic training.
Despite the secrecy of the project, you will still be working side by
side with other members of the Special Operations branch, therefore
you must meet the same physical requirements as any other UMC. When
I get back to my office, I'll send you all an email with a copy of
your official orders. On those orders will be your start date. I'd
suggest taking some time to visit friends and family beforehand.”
With that, Shariz offered her hand and the recruits each took a turn
to shake it.
“Congratulations, all of you. We look forward to
seeing you soon.” Shariz took her briefcase and marched out the
door, leaving it open for her new soldiers.
Kataka turned to face Magmar. “What the fuck did we
just do?”
No comments:
Post a Comment