Goldfish Bowl

VR Soldiers

June 7th, 2004 | by fish |

Above the vast sprawling industrial city of GH-554 Alpha, the sky was clear and the sun shone bright over the smoke stacks of the factories, in the arid red surroundings of the planet. Several of the higher employees of the companies were sitting in their terra dome walkway, watching the world go by. The top brass of the munitions factories were milling around discussing new ventures and projects over lunch. Their companies were making more money than ever with the ongoing war between the Earth based forces and the Martian rebels. Of course, their location meant that they could give them better deals and make even more profit! Their fleet of mass storage containers were about to make a delivery of momentous proportions to the rebel bases. This deal would send their Unisolar share price through the roof! They could all retire and spend month after month at posh health spas on the surface of Venus, where they neutralise the air and bubble it through a hot bath under you, while rubbing your back with acid eroded sponges. But it had to get there first.

That’s why they hired the mercenary and extra police forces to guard the city at all costs, just before the departure of the goods they had prepared. Besides, what could anyone do to them? The carriers themselves are near indestructible, and the weapons inside would still be saleable if the carrier fell out of orbit, down into a huge chasm in the middle of the dessert. Besides, there were four of them, scattered around the city at various different launch pads. Even if only three of them got there, they would still quadruple their profits! What could go wrong?

Little did they know a group of small unidentified flying objects were stealthily gliding into the atmosphere miles above them. As they got closer, you can see the red-hot re-entry trays the machines were lying on as they banked and tacked around in the thickening atmosphere. As they descended further, they jettisoned the trays, which cart wheeled away from them, and the machines continued to fall. They had a distinct shape now, like a human but much larger, with wings, a nose cone and jet engines attached to the back. They screamed across the planet at five times the speed of sound on the surface, creating vast vapour trails around their nose cones

One of the cleaning staff spotted a small black dot on the window of the offices. They sprayed some cleaning fluid onto the glass and wiped it, and disregarded it as another speck of dust from the outside.

The machines continued, jet engines flaming with afterburners, they all began to cruise at the same altitude in a ‘V’ formation. As they flew together, the central unit dropped a few feet down, and then they began to descend together. They glided swiftly towards the smoky sky around the city with an unstoppable strength. Their engines slowed to a faint halt, and they re-positioned their stance as they began to approach the city. They discarded the propulsion and nose cones as they slowed down, now gliding silently through the air towards the buildings. From the flat face down position, their knees bent, acting as flaps they flipped backwards, vertically, in the air, and as they re-orientated themselves small boosters fired to keep them stable in the air.
One unit was marked with a yellow chevron on the upper arm of the unit, and he was at the front of the pack. As they retracted their wings, they began to stand up straight and descend onto the desolate surface…

Several high up Exec’s were sitting in the café with their normal hot beverage for that time of day, some with a sandwich or cake, others with a briefcase and computer. None of them knew of the warriors that were landing in the middle of the dessert.

As the touched down, blowing the sand in all directions, they began to regroup.
“What’s you’re status squad?�? buzzed the leader
“A.O.K�? was the reply from 4 of the units. But they was a slight delay on the last one
“I’ve got a ruptured fuel pack, get outta here guys!!!�?
There was a stunned silence over the radio … and the group began to bound away from the one unit, which started to arc with the ground and air around it. As they ran, the unit began to shudder as its circuits overloaded one by one. The nuclear fusion cell only began to work at full capacity at the end of its lifetime, but when operating at the full capacity the output was much too unpredictable to be used efficiently.

The unit seemed to freeze time in its local vicinity, a huge shock wave emanated from the centre of the unit and an almost black light filled a perfect sphere, nearly thirty meters wide, around it, and absorbed the wave. The sphere glowed brighter and brighter, and then faded away, to reveal a huge pile of ash where the unit used to be.

“Ok, how is everyone doing for power?�? asked the captain. On his HUD he got 5 telemetry readings from each of the units, next to the live video feed, all with over 70%.

“The surveillance will have seen the radiation burst from the rupture, lets cloak shall we folks?�? An echo of “Cloak engaged�? came to his headset. Where the squad used to be standing there was now a dull haze of oval objects floating along the plain.

The huge hydraulics in the legs of the machines pumped rhythmically as the units leapt over the wasteland, jumping tens of meters at a time, faster than the fastest runner in the galaxy. The team ran in formation, Captain in front centre surrounded by two on the right and three on the left.

“Hey guys,�? said a voice over the coms link.
“Duuuude! That’s the second RRU you’ve got through this week! What the hell are you doing to the things? They’re supposed to be near indestructible!�? said one of the remaining unit operators.

“Nothin’ man! It’s a duff batch from the factory, I’m telling ya’�?
“Yeah yeah, how come the newbie hasn’t had a single problem then?�?
“Aw, ‘cmon! It’s beginners luck!�?
“Hey man I’ve been training on simulators for years, I don’t call that beginners luck!�?
“Don’t worry, you’ll always be the newbie to me�? said a female voice in a patronising tone through the radios.

They drew up to the city boundaries, wire fencing up high around the supply pipes. The captain unit drew out an arm with a large looking laser on it. As all the units input cameras synched and flicked into arc mode, the laser turned on and ripped through the wire like a knife through butter. The laser cut an oddly shaped hole in the wire. Then the commander stepped through it in his machine, not one part touching the edges of the wire.

“’Ya know, This part always reminds me of those old cartoons, you know when Taz gets smashed through a wall and makes a Taz shaped hole in it?�?
“Yeah, whatever, Goldy…�?

Once the last unit was through, it turned around and pointed a blunt looking device on its arm towards the cut fencing. A blue shaft of light illuminated it like an electric current, and it promptly flipped back into place and un-welded itself together. It was like watching a tape in rewind.

The hydraulics in the legs of the units silently slid around as they slinked around the supply intake complex. All the units were crouched down to nearly half their normal size. The captain took a corner and looked towards a hut. Gradually, his
Threat Analyser (v2.5.7) switched to thermal imaging, and highlighted several of the security staff. They were all sitting down in their hut, breathing suits on the wall. He ordered the others to follow him, and he crept around the side of the hut away from the windows.

They walked out of the front gate into the back lots of the factories, striding over baking hot tarmac, making vast square impressions as they walked.
“We’re in,�? said the captain.
“Roger that captain, re-enforcements have already begun their descent, continue the mission as planned. Take the ETA to be T-minus five minutes thirty six,�? said an official sounding voice.
It was the voice of the air commander who oversaw all deployments of their division. In the corner of their HUDs they saw the countdown clock start to tick down.

“Lets move, people!�? yelled the captain. Each of the units moved off in a different direction, and as they did so they all cloaked. All but one took off and headed to opposite sides of the city.

The commander started to run towards the warehouse building to his right, Target A. As he approached the wall, under the cloak he took a large device about the side of a large oil barrel and placed it down. After coming from the protection of the cloak, it could be seen to be a very small thermonuclear device, clearly marked with the appropriate warning labels. The commander executed a command from his terminal, and the device engaged its own cloak.

Around the city many other barrels were planted, and armed. And the units started to proceed to the tallest tower in the city. It was the defensive tower. The huge column of concrete towered over all the factories and other buildings in the city.

“In for the count after the regroup. Do we have everyone?�?
“Yeah�?
“Yep�?
“Aha…�?
“I’m here�?
“Ok, start the mine laying�?

With that, each of the units took a segment of the circle and pushed up against it. Several wheels protruded from their chests and legs, and they began to climb up the tower, laying small mines as they went. Once they reached the top of the tower, they broke away, and hovered down to the base again.

“Lets get ready to RUUUMMBBBBLLLEEE!!!!�? yelled a distinctly female voice over the coms. All the units swiftly fell away from the tower and soared towards the centre of the town, and as they did so, the mines detonated in perfect sequence demolishing the gigantic column in levels, obliterating each level as it fell.

“YEEEE HAAAA !!!�? exclaimed the female.

Several vehicles hovered around the units, tracking their booster trails. The hovering police vehicles opened fire on the units, or at least tried to, only managing to hit thin air. “Get into combat mode guys!�?.
The units darted around the skies, evading the bullets of the police.

“Power report!�? shouted the captain as he mounted the chain gun and returned fire on the armoured cars.

“60, 40, 30 and 50�? said a voice that seemed like it was inside his head.
“We’ll have to disengage cloak, we wont last it otherwise,�? he commanded. “Get to a vantage point and call in�?
The cloaked units searched for a safe location to defend themselves from. An echo of four “Secured!�? followed by “Disengage cloak�?.

The units towered in their points, chain guns blazing, and RPG guns thudding occasionally, grounding cars and desolating property below. They stood one leg slightly bent to their perfect balance and precision of movement. Gun arms flicked around weightlessly as they opened fire on multiple targets simultaneously.

The countdown timer was on its last five seconds, and the captain fired one last RPG and annihilated seven opposing vehicles in the blast.

“Ok, get configured for recovery, were safe to ascend�? said the captain to his squad. There were no defences in the town left, the main air defence tower was obliterated, and the each and every of the mobile force were wasted as the units mowed them down with artillery fire. Twelve planes soared overhead; one huge one had doors open on its underbelly. “Commence unit return, our job is done here lads!�? said the captain, and with that all the units shot up into the air towards the plane.

The squad stepped out of their VR terminals, which were arranged in a semicircle around a central terminal, which was manned by the unfortunate team member who lost his unit during the mission. Each of the static stations were marked one to six, with the one directly opposite the walkway behind with a yellow chevron above the number. The captain disengaged himself, and stepped out of his terminal.

“That was a great job guys!�? he said, “and gals, of course�? he winked at the feminine voice, who rolled her eyes and smiled at him. “Beer is on me�?.
As they left the VR combat chamber, the chief commander was waiting for them outside the door
“Congratulations, all of you! A fantastic job, just as I expected from the Alpha squad. You know, this mission will prove to be very influential in the outcome of the war, if we have our figures straight this should bring this conflict to a close!�? he said, smiling as he did so. “You should all be proud of yourselves.�?

Goldy walked out from the control room after hanging up his helmet. “Who said something about beer?�?

Over the planet, several smaller planes dropped payloads, which whistled down towards the city. The air re-enforcements started to go back into the stratosphere of the planet, and as they did so a huge white light ignited the sky, as over 13 different nuclear explosions detonated simultaneously, creating an atomic dawn over the horizon.