MARSHAL

by DATA001

A inter-universal government has made the horrible mistake of taking a citizen and rebel from the grip of the combine, and now they will face unforeseen consequences.

1. MARSHAL

MARSHAL

A door releases four beeps then slides open. A man in an odd black suit walks in and types something on a computer terminal. A screen pops up.

BOARD OF INTER-UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATION AND TRAVELS.

UNIT ID 19952: /

SEX: /

AGE: 24

NAME: ISAN SFOR

OCCUPATION: RESISTANCE/ ANTI-UU

CALLING CODE: NON-MILITARY/ CALLING CODE NOT AVAILABLE

CURRENT SOCIO-EMOTIONAL CONDITION: 4/1 /2

Directive: Capture and bend unit emotion to current protocol.

LINE END…

Earth, Atlantic Ocean 2016

A lonely rebel walk across the now dried sea bed. The combine had taken no, stolen the oceans from the earth too. The lonely rebel was severely dehydrated and on the verge of collapsing. He wearily picked his head up to an odd sound. He saw some sort of thin line with a circle in the middle, like a vertical plane. It was defiantly not Combine. Then suddenly a blue flash appeared in the sky and another one of those vertical planes appeared bearing a flag that he had never seen. The plane flew straight into the one that was still in the air leaving a large trail of fire as it crashed into the desert. Another portal appeared and a black vehicle came flying out of it sliding straight toward him, before he had time to move the vehicle stopped inches before him. It was also hovering with some sort of magnetic device, it looked like some sort of car those street racers he saw in a pre-war movie would drive. But its headlights were replaced by two blue bars. The back door opened and he felt a vivid stream of cool air brush by him. He had to get in the car or die of thirst/hunger. He stepped in and closed the door.

The car was empty, but from the small screen in the front he could tell it was self driven. It stayed put for a few seconds let out four electronic beeps then started flying so fast the world seemed to melt around it. Then everything around the car turned black. And dark towers rose from the landscape. Green bars started flying out of the ground as some sort of beet was played. All of the sudden a voice called out from behind the rebel who was looking out the window. "It makes things go… faster". The rebel turned suddenly to be greeted by a man in a black suit. Not a tuxedo as it was entirely black and lacked a tie. He was about the same height as the rebel, 5 foot 6. He had black parted hair. A few seconds passed and the suited man says "Oh, Pardon my manners. I have forgotten to tend to your thirst." He opened the seat next to him and takes out a bottle of water and a little metallic case. He handed the water to the rebel who immediately drank the entire thing. Then handed the rebel the metallic case. The rebel opened the case to reveal a pill. He ate the pill and his hunger dispersed. He took a look at the label on the empty water bottle. "EMERGENCY SUPPLY 00x112." After a few seconds the bottle and the metallic case containing the pill disappeared. Once the rebel regained his thoughts he screamed and huddled himself into the corner. The man in the suit hushed him and explained that they are currently in-between universes, Without the large blackish world they were in they would not be able to cross, "Wait… this is artificial?" Asked the rebel in his Cyrillic voice. "Technically, one of these worlds is generated every time an object goes past the speed of light" Said the suited man. "Every mile we cross here is equivalent to a million miles in a normal universe. The bars of light provide entertainment during travel and help determine the speed of the vehicle as speedometers to not function properly within artificial universes." "Oh look, we are almost at the exit." Said the suited man pointing toward a small opening in to vast darkness lit up by a bluish skyline. The vehicle sped right into it.

THE CITY.

The vehicle flew out of a bluish portal at mach 8 (5280 MPH). The cracked desert rock flying beneath them. A large wall appeared in the distance. The suited man explained that the wall is actually a gate to the capital city of their nation. The gate got closer and closer, the rebel closed his eyes as it seemed they were going to crash, when he opened his eyes all he saw was two massive grey reflective walls at each side of the vehicle and two openings in the front and back. The landscape replaced by a very large road with nothing beneath it except for a white fog. The city was multileveled, each level containing googols of buildings and clear blue walkways with circuitry enclosed in the middle. It reminded him of the combine walkways he had once seen in a Overwatch outpost. The city was grey and dull except for a car whizzing past by every few seconds and thousands of civilians crowding the walkways, though the car was zooming by so fast the rebel had no time to make out what they look like, taking heavy example from the suited man. After a few hours of flying mach 8 through the city, in which time they could have crossed the Earth more than 1000 times over, they reached a huge gate and what appeared to be a military checkpoint. The sun roof opened on the car and the rebel could look up for the first time. What he saw shocked him, terrified him, and amazed him. A huge tower looming over the city so high it pierced the clouds, a mix of light purple and dark blue. Many times larger than the citadel and the Earth for that matter. The rebel looked down to see the suited man holding up appeared to be his badge to an electronic scanner of sorts. The gate opened allowing passage, the suited man tossed his wallet to the rebel so he could see.

GOVERNMENT ID 2415:14

UNIT NAME: EXPUNGED

UNIT SEX: /

UNIT AGE: 27

UNIT CAREER: EXPUNGED MARSHAL :: MILITARY - BOARD OF INTER-UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATIONS AND TRAVEL.

CALLING CODE: A1407

DIRECTIVE: EXPUNGED.

ACCESS: A14

INFRINGEMENTS: EXPUNGED

Below that was a shiny blue pin, with one needle pointing upward and one downward, joining at the middle, which was also the thickest spot on the pin. The rebel, or Isan now that he remembered. Could remember the one place that sort of tower would be, in that universal gate they were in the towers looked exactly like the ones on the pin. Isan though that would kind of explain the "INTER-UNVERSAL TRAVEL" thing.

They were now speeding toward the bluish tower very fast, the marshal was smiling at Isans terrified face as they were about to slam into it, but instead the vehicle changed direction at the last moment and was flying straight up the face of the building. Isan was forced back into his seat by the overwhelming gravity. They eventually snapped back onto a horizontal axis and flew into what Isan could only describe as a massive, indoor, airport. The car suddenly stopped dead in its tracks in the middle of millions of vertical planes which the marshal called "S.O.I"s. They had no vertical stabilizer, Isan could only assume that they WERE the vertical stabilizer. In the middle of the large wings was a ball of sorts, it had a door in the back which allowed access and helped the wings turn, what Isan didn't know that the ball did not turn with the wings. Engraved on the upper wings what appeared to be the national flag, an hourglass with a down pointing triangle on the top glass and another hour hourglass on the bottom glass. There were no flags on the bottom wings, though it was the bottom wings which held the weaponry, two little barrels barley extended from a small black patch on the plane.

They had been walking for an hour or so when they came up to a staircase on the side of the wall which led to a master room. They hiked up the cold metallic set of stairs and went into the master room, To access the main building the marshal typed in a 4 digit code on the keypad then pressed enter. When he did 4 panels on the door lit up and a electronic beep followed, the door slid open allowing them access to the main building.

ROOMMATES 4 EVR

The interior of the Evenies citadel was much more welcoming than the Combine citadel, it was well lit by lights in the corner of the ceiling. With a velvet industrial carpet with white strips at the side lined the mile long hallways. The guards on the other hand, struck fear and respect into the heart of Isan. They were dressed in complete white, with black boots. Instead of a normal gasmask like the combine would wear they had a mask with three red sharp triangles extending from the center, with a blue dot in the middle which Isan could only assume was their eyes. They did not have the normal padded uniform of the combine, it appeared to be much heavier and had some sort of electronic glow to it. Isan then realized that they had probably stopped using bullets thousands of years ago, and the uniform was meant too protect them from electric blasts of some sort. He walked up to one of the guards while the marshal was talking with a white coated man, the guard was much higher and more intimidating than the weakling rebel. It was 7,5 and didn't even acknowledge his existence. He tugged on his clothing and the guard looked down. "Report infringement" the guard said. "What?" Asked Isan. "Current directive does not allow conversation outside that of reporting infringements or medical emergencies." The marshal noticed Isans half-chat with the guard and quickly moved him away like a child from a stranger in a store. He told him it was "Time to see his roommate" They came to the end of the hallway, to a large metal door with the same panels that lit up in the master room of the hangar. Every time a correct code was given the panels (there were nine of them) would light up to the number that was punched in and the door would slide open.

The marshal typed in the code on the keypad (2148) and panels 2,1,4, and 8 lit up all releasing electronic beeps. The door slid open revealing a moderate sized room. But the room was not empty. Sitting on the bed was a woman the same size as Isan. Not to mention the same hair color and the same eye color. They were like twins, both bearing black hair green eyes and a uniform from city 14. Except his was a rebel uniform and hers was the bluish citizen uniform that they both became use to. Her uniform had "C14:1572" engraved on the back, and his had no number. The marshal pushed Isan in the room saying that he would give them time to "Get to know each other." The door slid shut behind him making a electronic locking sound. He sat down on the bed next to the woman and looked around the room hoping she would break the silence. She looked down at the bed then back up at Isan and said "Why is there only one bed in here" In Russian Cyrillic. He replied "wait, you speak Russian" Back in Russian Cyrillic to. They had both been raised in Saint Petersburg. "I also speak English" she replied in the best British accent she attempt to speak. "Oh, ok" said Isan with a half smile on his face "back onto the subject of the bed perhaps?".

The door then slid open with the marshal. "Sorry if the lack of beds surprises you, we are not very "accustomed" to sleeping alone" "And we have quite a lot of visitors in the citadel this month, But I think once you fall asleep next to each other you will agree with our ways." As he walked out the door he said "And don't bother sleeping on the floor, our cleaning systems kill any living organisms on the ground at night, and you happen to be one of them." The door lid shut behind him. "Did the marshal just tell us to…" they both thought to themselves. They sat on the bed awkwardly looking around the room trying to avoid each other for a few minutes until they both said "Screw it" in Russian and turned on the television. The screen appeared before them. except it was not a screen, but rather a stream of some sort of fluid that an image was projected on to, much clearer and sharper than any normal human television. Isan stuck his hand in the fluid and saw that it was just dyed water. And what was projected onto the water was much better than the propaganda the combine was always playing. There was a channel for everyone, and the government censored nothing. There was a hardcore porn channel right next to the Evenies version of "Elmo" They even put in the number of people viewing the channel in the description. But most of the time it was an incomprehensible mathematical equation like 1503'5 x 1032'5[254]. They eventually came across a international news channel. They saw all sorts of breathtaking things, they found out that people were literally using supernova's to power planets. What the Evenies considered child's play was the most advanced technology on Earth. They found out that there was a laser or as the news casters called "ASaE" or "Artificial Singularity and Expansion" that could completely destroy an entire universe.

After watching the news and taking the pills and water the government considered "Food". they decided to go to sleep, but there was only one bed and the marshal said sleeping on the floor would kill them. So they took their edges of the bed and looked away from each other. They heard a large rumble as the central air of the citadel "5000 pounds of frozen nitrogen freezing air and distributing it around the complex" turned on, The air was the coldest thing they had ever experienced, dwarfing even the coldest mountains in Russia. The sheets providing no warmth. Isan turned in the bed to see his roommate holding out her arms welcoming him to her embrace Which he gladly accepted moving himself into her arms. Their body heat somehow pulling them through the night, they eventually fell asleep.

GONMENT' SHENANIGANS

The marshal was walking down the dark hall, the citadels residential area lighting had always shut down after 10PM, only when there were emergencies would lighting come back on, but for nothing else. The marshal stopped at a panel door, with the inscription " SECURITY STATION 5721'52" He punched a code on the keypad and the panels lit up, but there was no beeping this time. The door slid open allowing him access. He walked up to his terminal and booted it. He typed in his password and the screen popped up.

DIRECTIVE UPDATED

FIND AND COLLECT UNIT COMPLETE

TRIGGER SOCIO_EMOTIONAL BONDING COMPLETE

ENHANCE BONDING TO PROTOCOL IN PROCESS

He closed the terminal as the door opened behind him. A woman in a white coat walked in and booted the terminal next to him, on the screen was a complex map of the nation, three red dots could be seen getting closer by the minute. The marshal asked the woman what was going on, she had not noticed his presence. She immediately pinned him to a wall and put her hand over his throat, that would not stop him from screaming though. A split second before he let out any sound she kissed him in a very intimate way, which clearly disturbed the poor marshal. Then she let her grip go, allowing him to drop to the ground. "Take this as a bribe and don't say anything, subordinate" she said, walking out the door and locking it behind her. The marshal decided he need to know what was going on, put she had locked both terminals. He found a ventilation shaft at the corner of the room, he was lucky it was not on or he would have been trapped. He slid the grate open and climbed in the metallic tunnel, dim green lights illuminating the way out. He eventually found and exiting shaft climbed down and dropped to the floor. The marshal walked up to a security terminal and tracked the access data, which allowed him to follow the white coated woman through her phone. She was headed toward the head-military room at the top of the citadel. He quickly downloaded the data and hurried himself to the nearest elevator. All the elevators in the building had a high powered radio in them to communicate with rescue crews if something went wrong. The elevator eventually stopped at the top of the citadel and the marshal stepped out, he continued his path to the military-board room and stopped right at its entrance to the sound of voices. "They are getting closer by the second" once voice said. "Maybe if we can hand over the rebel and the citizen?" "That would no-" the voice was interrupted as a guard spotted the marshal and the lights flicked on. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO ANYTHING, SUBORDINATE." The woman yelled motioning for the others to get him. The marshal took off as the guards and even the heads of military chased after him. He fled down the hall as guards tried to tackle him. The woman who "bribed" him caught up with him and tackled him to the floor, the marshal turned immediately to look at her face. "You made a very, very, big mistake" she said. "What did I ever do?" said the marshal with a frightened expression on his face, "I had no clue one of the most powerful people in the universe would sink so low as to French kiss a subordinate as a bribe" He said as his fearful expression turned to a smirk. The coated woman turned pale as she noticed a large crowd had gathered as he said that. Before she could say anything in protest he threw her off of him and ran away. He got back to the elevators and used the emergency floor panel to slide down the emergency ladder. He reached the floor which the Isan and the citizen was on and bashed the "FIRE" button next to the door, it slid open allowing him to dash the room in which they were sleeping in. He quickly typed the code on the keypad and the door slid open. He rushed in screaming "WE HAVE TO GO, NOW."