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Ch. 5
Officer Kylan Jones walked back into the cramped little control room. He handed a coffee to the mysterious man he'd rescued from a war torn planet only weeks ago.
"Thanks," Wade said, taking the cup.
They sat together in silence for a moment, each man lost in private, submerged thoughts. Both were only half watching the computer read outs that flashed across a floating screen in control room 05I.
A petite woman with long dark hair sat at the controls. She wore a headpiece that pulsed with a green light every other second as her fingers danced on the translucent controls that floated above the desk.
"Try to relax Wade," Jones said, patting the other man on the back. "Everyone takes their first death in the training tank pretty hard," Kylan's warm hand lingered on Wade's slumped back.
Wade looked down and away from the other man, "Jones," he said, "Did... Did you come in there to watch the mission? ...Into the simulation tank I mean."
"Hmm?" Jones shook his head slowly. "No, I was here in the control room with Shaylene," he gestured at the woman sitting a few feet away, "watching the senior training Officer take delight in pitting you against those spiders."
Shaylene turned away from the controls, her hands still dancing along the buttons like falling rain as she spoke, "Shit, you took out a whole unit of our best trained men in under fifteen minutes." she said, smiling.
Kylan looked up, his face betraying concern for the smaller man. "Hey now, you can't expect the trainer to go easy on you, I think you wounded his pride pretty bad." He smiled, "Heh, he left soon after your mission was done.
"It's not that," Wade shifted uneasily, "It's just..."
"He doesn't send in the spiders for just anyone you know," Kylan said. The man paused, "Hey, are you alright?" Kylan asked.
Wade smiled and looked down into his coffee. "Yeah," he said.
A desperate soft alarm bell suddenly filled the small room. Shaylene turned away from the controls and quickly walked over to the side of the room.
"Is something wrong?" Kylan asked.
Shaylene looked back as she spoke, "It's nothing," she shrugged, "It's just warning that the safeties need to be replaced in the next month or so." She walked back to her chair, "I should put in the order to the main land for parts within the week," she said.
The other man nodded.
"Hey Kylan, I don't think Wade here ever got the standard outworlder's orientation tour." Shaylene said.
Kylan opened his mouth to reply but the sounds of heavy tromping footfalls cut him short as a large, familiar man came into view.
"The pup kinda fell through the cracks Shay," Hank grunted as he clomped loudly into the small room and plopped down on the nearest chair, the small wooden frame creak alarmingly with his weight.
"Nice, Hank," she said looking back at the giant man whose crusted boots were now propped up on the side readout panel. "Why in hell's half acre does Sharon put up with you anyway?" she shook her head.
"I got your reason right here," Hank grunted as he cupped his crotch and squeezed it suggestively.
"I always miss you when you're gone on a recon mission Steadman, you know that?" Shaylene replied with a sarcastic sigh.
It was only a moment later when a loud scream and the sound of an explosion rocked the controls. "Shit," she muttered, sliding back to the display and adjusting her headset. She looked up at the far screen, "Jameson got hit with another grenade," she said almost to herself.
She paused for a moment before grasping the floating panel to the right and pulling the free floating image closer. Shaylene touched a place on the screen with one hand and her headset with the other, "Charles Jameson eject from training area seven," she said firmly before releasing the screen. The display panel quickly recoiled back to its original location, floating up and joining the others.
"Chuck's in trouble again?" Kylan asked, his coffee nearly finished.
"Not much of a spine that one," Hank said, scoffing.
Shaylene shot him a venomous look before turning back to her work, "He's good at his job," she said quickly. Hank just grunted. "He just... ran into some trouble again," she sighed.
Kylan turned to Wade who by now was completely lost. "Hey, why don't we catch a transport into the central Union city later? We can grab a drink at the Officer's bar. Just the two of us," he flashed the other man a quick smile.
Wade's eyes sparkled in the faint light, he opened his mouth to speak but was cut short.
"Hell of an idea bud," Hank smiled, slapping his comrade hard on the back, "We can all grab a beer." What was left of Kylan's coffee was now a lonely puddle on the floor. Hank gaped down at the dark stain, trying to mop it up with his giant boot. "Sorry," he muttered.
"What he really needs is a tour of the city," Shaylene said, "not just a tour of the inside of the officer's bar."
"The pup's an officer," Hank said blinked. The coffee stain was now twice its original size and growing as he scuffed at it some more.
"Not my point," Shaylene rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I doubt he's seen anything like central Union city before is all. He needs a proper tour."
"He doesn't need no sight seeing tour," Hank said crossed his heavy arms and sank further into the chair.
"Well," Kylan considered the idea as he and Wade exchanged glances, "We can meet at the bar after you're done."
"Oh," Wade said quietly, "you're not-?"
"I try to stay on the outer ring of the city if I can," he replied.
"Especially since you just recovered from your spatial sickness," Shaylene said, turning to face Kylan with a look of concern on her face.
Hank leaned forward and fixed Wade in the eye, "Real men don't let their bits and pieces be rearranged and played with," he grunted. Wade tried his best not to laugh.
"Now you're just making this too easy Hank," Shaylene called.
Hank opened his mouth to say something dirty in retort.
"Don't even think about it, Steadman," she hissed. Facing Wade, her tone changed back to normal, "You just need someone who lives in the main city to give you a tour is all."
"Who do you have in mind Shay?" Kylan asked.
"Well," she said, hesitating briefly as she pulled down a floating readout panel, staring at it intently, "What about Charles Jameson?" she asked.
Hank snorted.
"Chuck would be perfect. Doesn't he live near the top of the central tower or something?" Kylan said, ignoring Hank's noises.
"Real men live on the base, pup." Hank fixed Wade with an intent look and a wink. "You best remember that."
"Don't you live with your wife, Steadman? In the outer ring if I remember right?" Shaylene asked, not turning around.
Hank was suddenly overcome with a fit of violent coughing.
Shaylene continued as she touched the screen floating to her right, "Chuck Jameson's family is loaded. His father controls some of the largest companies in the central ring. And," she looked at the screen once more, "he's had just about enough training for one day by the looks of him. Well, what's left of him, anyway." Her nails clicked once against the side of her headset, "Charles Steadman report to control room 05I for a special assignment."
"I've never understood why he signed up with the planetary defence unit," Kylan smiled at Wade, "He'd probably be much happier helping with his father's company."
Shaylene glanced at Kylan with a knowing look before she turned back to her station. "I wouldn't be so sure about that," she said quietly.
A crisp ringing noise suddenly filled the cramped little room. It pulsed through Wade's skull and made his soul rattle.
"What the hell?" Shaylene muttered.
"What's the matter kid?" Hank sat up in his chair.
"I... I don't understand this," she replied, leaning close to the side readout screen "Looks like the safety mechanisms on the far training pool just failed but that's not right. It can't be."
"How long will it take to fix?" Kylan asked, staring at the training screen as soldiers began shimmering out of the training sequence one at a time.
"A few days at the most," she shrugged, "I need to put in an order for the specialized safety unit from the mainland. For the time being I'm going to have to shut down all of the training tanks and get the tech boys to run some tests." She rolled her chair over to the one side and searched over the far panels for something. "It just doesn't make sense though," she muttered as she searched through the far panels.
"Shay?" Hank asked.
"Well," she continued, "the warning only sounded a few minutes ago. You heard it. This unit shouldn't have failed for another month at least."
"Maybe the first warning already went off weeks ago and that was just a second one?" Kylan asked.
Shaylene shook her head as she found what she was looking for, "That can't be right," she said, "The warning sound's different the closer you get to unit failure."
"Maybe we got gremlins," Hank laughed.
Shaylene shot him a dirty look as she clicked the far button and the alarm died away.
"Good thing you were here Shay," Kylan said. He turned back with a smile, which quickly faded. "Wade?" The other man didn't respond, "Wade, are you ok?" he asked again.
In the far chair the raven-haired young man sat perfectly still. Although the sound of the alarm had died from the room moments before, the steady blaring of the sound still consumed his mind. The noise beat at his memory like a hammer, wrenching deeply buried memories free from the depths of his mind and flooding his vision with ghosts from the past.
************************************************************************ Author's note:
I hope that everyone is enjoying the story so far. Again thanks to Kane for helping get this chapter in working order!!
Next chapter = monsters, romance and mayhem. Plus! We get a glimpse into how Wade's tale really started ;),
Enjoy
-Gene
[As always, comments, concerns, flames or general psychoses.... Drop me a line at corporeal09@yahoo.com]