The sun peaked over the horizon, bathing the sky and all beneath it in a dawning hue of golden glory. The sun shown all throughout the beautiful countryside, and eventually fell onto the sleek metropolis in the middle of it.
The city is known as Tarsonis, the capital of the Mar Saara province. Mar Saara is one of six provinces on Ichor. Being the first planet that was colonized by humans, Ichor has a charm that the original earth had lost. This planet was blessed with humanity's second chance. Mankind had worked hard to build their modernized metropolises, but at the same time, preserve the beauty of the planet, minimizing pollution and damage to nature. The efforts had succeeded, and as a result, Ichor flourished, and its one continent was filled with beauty. Surrounded by oceans on all sides, the continent had been bestowed with the name of Euphera.
The morning sunlight gleamed off of the buildings, many of which were built out of a reflective metal obtained from asteroid mining, and it was a metal that seemed endlessly abundant. Hovercraft shot by on the elevated roadways, and TVs installed as animated billboards advertised the new products available to the masses, or occasionally, the local news. The sunlight sparkled off of yet another parked hovercraft, this one parked in the driveway of a small suburban one-story house.
As the sun rested on the vehicle, a young man emerged from the house. Young and gangly in appearance, the lanky man wore a solid white polo tee and gray khakis. He carried a briefcase with him. One of his most notable features was his long, unkempt, flaming red hair. He brushed this hair out of his eyes as he got into the hovercraft.
As he stepped into the craft, he cursed quietly about running late. He started the car and was soon gliding out into the surrounding country.
As the hills rolled by, Jerry Baker began to space out. He could remember his childhood, how it flung him through being an adult, and now to whatever he was now. He could hardly call himself human, being next to immortal…But things had changed so quickly…
"Keep down and you won't get hurt!"
A muscular 8th grader was towering over Jerry, pinning him to the wet, muddy earth with his foot.
"Why, what did he do?" Jerry yelped, hardly able to speak as the pouring rain dripped into his mouth.
"Just stay down!" The 8th grader repeated furiously.
Jerry watched. The junior high students were beginning to gather around the schoolyard. To gather, and to watch his friend getting a pounding on behalf of a second 8th grader, who was even bigger and meaner than the one pinning Jerry down.
It had happened very suddenly. Jerry and his friend had been walking, and the next thing they knew Jerry had been thrown roughly to the ground and pinned, while his friend was dragged not too far away, where he was now being openly beaten.
This was nothing new for Jerry though. He had been bullied all his life. He was just a nerd, or maybe he was just meant to suffer. Either way, he had few companions; But Jerry knew that no matter what happened, he had to protect his friends, as they protected him. Maybe this was the concept that brought Jerry to the rather foolish conclusion that he could overpower a middle schooler who was two grades above him. Jerry tried to get up. Surprisingly, he was allowed to stand.
The crowd waited with baited breath to see the consequences of this turn of events. Jerry started to speak.
"Stay away from him! He didn't do anything to y—"
"You should've stayed down!" Jerry's captor jeered.
WHAM. Before Jerry had even registered the agonizing hurt from the punch, Jerry stumbled backwards and fell on his back. He laid in the mud, watching the rain pour onto him, and feeling his nose steadily drench his face in blood.
That's when Jerry couldn't remember anymore. Jerry grimaced from the recollection as he turned the craft into a parking lot, passing a mesh fence on the way. The fence had a sign haphazardly hanging from it:
WARNING!
AUTHORIZED PERSONS ONLY!
ALL TRESPASSERS
WILL BE PROSOCUTED!
Jerry parked and stepped out, grabbed his briefcase and walked up a ramp. The building he was heading towards was built on top of a giant bluff made of pheronite, a mineral that was very stable. It couldn't be drilled through with anything less than a machine with the power of a class five earthquake. This was for security purposes…to prevent an attack from anybody who might try to burrow their way in, thereby protecting the building on top from an attack from below.
He arrived at the top of the ramp, and another gate blocked his path. Attached to the gatepost was three red blinking lights, among other things. A microscope eyepiece was poking out of the gatepost. Jerry stuck his eye into it. There was a blinding flash of light as he was optically scanned. The first red light turned green. Next, Jerry reached over to a keyboard built into the gatepost and typed in "Jerry L. Baker". He waited while it matched the fingerprints he had just left on they keys with the name he had typed. The second light flashed green. Now Jerry stepped to a small microphone.
He spoke slowly and clearly. "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." The gate swung open as the third red light flickered to green. The security was very tight, and to even enter the building, an optic scan, vocal scan, and print scan were necessary.
Jerry stared up at the building before him. Six stories tall, with two more buildings and a blacktop behind it, Jerry was standing before a massive outpost. The top floor, Jerry could see, had a giant glass window.
Jerry stepped into the building. The lobby was a large, spacey room that could easily fit twenty people in it. However, right now there was only him and a secretary. She chewed noisily on her gum, which Jerry could smell even from a distance. The sickly sweet scent was overwhelming. Her hair was blonde, and pulled tight into a single ponytail.
"Sorry I'm late," Jerry began, "I had to take care of my gran and you wouldn't believe the traff—"
"Sit down," She said, interrupting him with a harsh, callous voice. She pointed to a large couch against the opposite wall without lifting her eyes from a form she was filling out. "Somebody will see to you in a moment."
"Umm…oh no, no, I'm the new guy here." Jerry stated quickly realizing she had mistaken him for a reporter, or possibly a civilian. "I'm supposed to see a Mr. Berenson."
"Well you'll have to wait, he won't be in until later." She said, still not taking her eyes off her deskwork.
"Really? I thought he was coming in early today to see me." Jerry paused, trying to decide what to say next. After a moment, he continued, "are you sure he hasn't come in yet?"
The secretary finally looked up at him, Her hazel eyes looked daggers into him and she scowled. "Why the Hell do you think I would know?" She burst out angrily. She continued speaking, and her voice began to drip sarcasm. "I'm just the lowly secretary. Not fit to lick the great, exalted Ms. Henderson's puss—"
She was interrupted by a loud ding that echoed through the lobby. An elevator door tucked against the far back wall swung open, and a figure emerged.
He was a tall, muscular man. He was noticeably aged, even for a near immortal like Jerry. He had thick, black hair, and a thin, finely trimmed mustache. His black hair was long in the back, and noticeably shorter towards the front. As his hair grew out, it had apparently curled, and gave his hair an almost shaggy look, which put Jerry's merely untidy hair to shame. He wore a red tank top, and over that a leather trench coat, black except for faded white stripes lining it vertically. Ripped, tattered jeans with boots completed the ensemble.
However, by far the most notable feature was his left ear, which Jerry now noticed was composed of machinery. Jerry understood that a cyborg stood before him, but not in the same sense as himself. This cyborg had external fixings, and Jerry knew it wasn't a hearing aid, but most definitely a testament to a particularly dangerous enemy that had almost bested him. Jerry nervously hoped he would never lose a body part on the job
As he stepped out of the elevator, he began to speak in a commanding, strict, yet confident voice. It was the sound of a man who you could trust, but also not someone you wanted to anger. "Hello Chelsea!" He exclaimed jovially to the secretary. Chelsea made a grunt but otherwise did not acknowledge the greeting. "And you must be Jerry Baker. My name is Seth. Seth Berenson, that is. I'm the leader of your squad, Squad Seven."
He stuck out his hand, and Jerry shook it, not taking his eyes off the ear. Seth noticed where he was looking. "Oh, that's just a small injury. It actually goes in pretty deep. They had to fuse the circuitry to the brain. But don't worry, the idiot who gave me this is rotting in prison now. There's a story for that, but I'll have to tell you that another time. Care for a tour?"
Jerry nodded.
"Cool, follow me than." Seth announced, and he headed towards a door next to the elevator, and Jerry hurried after him.
His trench coat fluttered behind him as he stepped into the stairwell beyond the threshold.
"That's a nice trench coat, but why the stripes?"
Seth chuckled as they headed up the stairs. "Well, I got this for my twenty-first birthday…it's my personal lucky article of clothing. People have their lucky socks, underwear, but I have a trench coat. And you know what? The only time I didn't wear this trench coat on a mission, I lost my ear."
Seth opened the door to the second floor, and they walked into the corridor. Seth pointed to the left path "down there is the anti-grav elevator. It leads to a second building build on a higher part of the cliff, which has the armory, laboratory, medical wing, archive, VR chamber, and lounge. The cliff has three tiers, and we're on the first. On the third is a "docking bay" of sorts where we keep most of our vehicles. it also has our barracks and shooting range." He than pointed in front of him, where a coffee machine stood on a small table. "And this is our private beverage dispenser. Well actually, everybody uses it, but we agents pooled our money for the purchase. Want any coffee?"
Jerry declined, having already had a cup at home.
"Well ok than. The right end of the hall has our control room, where we monitor security" As he spoke, a man emerged from the stairwell. He grabbed a cup and filled it and began to drink. He wore a suit of armor, not like a knight, but reminiscent of a space marine or an armored space suit. His arms were not covered, allowing muscles to show, so round and evident that Jerry wondered for a moment if the man took steroids. He also was noticeable for his aviator shades, which hid his eyes from view.
"This is Mike Greco, he's the chief of security, and the commanding shock trooper." Seth stated. Jerry remembered learning about them during his training on the original Earth. He had learned a lot about shock troopers, and how they were used as reinforcing teammates, often helping on more dangerous assignments. Jerry allowed his mind to wander for a moment.
A younger Jerry grinned, holding his diploma in his hand. Having graduated from college, he had come a long way. He hugged his gran, and waved to Ms. Bean, who approached from a nearby seat.
Ms. Bean came up to him and shook his hand. "You've come a long way Jerry. It seems like just yesterday you were taking my Biology class. I'm glad it influenced you to be a teacher."
Gran smiled. "Well, he's always liked learning. He's a good kid, I expected nothing less."
"At the same time, I'm not used to seeing him so happy. Most of my memories of him from high school involve me having to save him from some torment inflicted upon him by another student."
"Yes, he never instigated it either." She turned to Jerry now. "It's always been one of your best qualities, almost to a fault. To choose what's right over what's easy.
Ms. Bean laughed, "Although sometimes he just doesn't know when to pick his battles".
Jerry finally spoke. "I'm just glad I'm finally here. I'm lucky to have you, Gran. And I'm lucky that I had you to help me, Ms. Bean. I just hope I can influence somebody else in the same way."
"Yo, are you listening? Pay attention!" An angry voice was speaking to him and he came back to the present. He saw the man with the shades, and nothing else. In fact, all he saw was himself reflected in the shades. This was due to the fact that Mike was about a second away from locking lips with him. Jerry dropped his briefcase and nearly fell over a backwards.
"What the heck? Don't get in my face like that!"
"Well than stop jerkin' off on planet retard! When I flex, I expect you to gasp in awe!" He flexed and Jerry could have sworn even his muscles had muscles. He managed to lamely say "wow" and Mike let his arm fall, looking satisfied yet slightly disappointed with Jerry's apparent lack of speechlessness.
"Yes, Mike can be a little…eccentric." Seth said, obviously at a loss of what else to say.
"Don't call me queer! I ain't some faggot!" Mike bellowed, and Seth raised his eyebrows in an attempt to seem mildly amused. As he said this, a second shock trooper walked in. He stopped for a second, halfway to the coffee counter. He abruptly turned around and went back down the stairwell from where he came.
"I dunno what that was about, but that guy was Bill Dunham." Seth frowned. "Wonder what was eatin' him." he paused for a minute, lost in thought. He recollected himself and continued. "Why don't we go see the armory? You'll see the full base in time, but I do want to show you a few things. Besides, we only have an hour, and we've already been twenty minutes." Jerry picked up his briefcase and followed Seth down to the anti-grav platform, and they were soon inside the armory.
"So we're here. First of all, take a look at these." Seth pulled a sword out of a large crate, filled with several other swords, all the same as this one and all with the handle side up. "Always leave these handle side up. Last thing we need is somebody stabbing themselves in the palm of their hand. Anyways, this is a cutlass. We use them as a tool for close up melee. When somebody gets too close to you just—" He made a stabbing motion with his hand.
"You need a sword to stab somebody? Isn't that a little extreme?" Jerry pondered aloud.
"Yeah, well, we like to think of them as long knives, or daggers. That's what they are, really. Besides, there are times when I think we really should upgrade to swords, with the enemies we have to face." Seth paused, concentrating on something. "Hold on, follow me" He said, and Jerry hustled after him as he briskly hurried down the hall.
They stopped in a large, empty room. The only thing in the room was a small table in the middle, which had a helmet on it. The occupants of this room were two more shock troopers, who had apparently been lost in each other. They gave a start when Seth and Jerry entered, and hurried to pretend like they had not been passionately smooching.
"This is our VR chamber. And this is Diane Richardson and Steve Marcoh." He turned to the two of them. "Stop doing that, it's not appropriate for the work place." He turned together him and Jerry walked back down the corridor to the armory again.
"How did you know they were doing that?"
Seth pointed to his ear. "I can hear all kinds of things with this thing. With this, my left ear can hear things that you couldn't hear even if you knew to listen for. I can hear people making out from a long ways away"
They entered the armory again, and he pointed to a large rack, where various weapons were held. "Here's where we keep most of our weapons." He picked up an assault rifle. "A basic AK assault rifle. Very useful. It has a scope, and is excellent for mid-ranged combat or urban and jungle warfare."
He put it back and picked up another weapon. "A close quarters battle shotgun, for when you're in a hurry, and a precise shot would take too long. Firing 12 gauge shells from an 8-round clip, the M47 shotgun can clear the room as fast as you can pump the action and pull the trigger. However, I would suggest you never dual wield a cutlass with this, as it's pointless to have two close ranged weapons." After putting it back he pointed to a third cluster of weapons, these were much smaller. "These are modernized magnum revolvers. They're loud, have unbelievable recoil, but it's well worth it as it packs quite the wallop."
Now, he gestured to several weapons propped against the back wall. "Over there we have a couple of M21 sniper rifles, as well as a chest of tools. We also store our supplies that we often take on missions, such as binoculars, grappling hooks, zip line equipment, rope, matches, flares, and medical kits. There is one other special tool we often use; it's in a separate box." He pointed to another large crate. "Go on over and pull one out."
Jerry walked over to the crate. It was filled with what looked like small television remotes. Jerry knew what these were. He had learned much about hologram projectors in training. Holograms were used to create three-dimensional imaging, useful for anything from graphs and maps to elaborate illusionary tricks. There were eleven buttons, ten of which were numbered zero through nine. These were the command buttons. Jerry keyed in a combination of them that he had been taught over and over again back in training. It was the most common and simple technique; it created a lifelike holographic clone of the user.
Sure enough, Jerry pointed the remote and pressed the eleventh button, the red one at the top. This button was used to activate the code keyed in with the command buttons. Sure enough, where he pointed the remote, a second Jerry had appeared.
Jerry understood the use of having a fake copy of himself in battle. Trickery and deceit, when applied with thought and experience, could easily turn the tables in a battle. He walked up to his copycat. He pulled back his fist and made a punch for him in the chest. The fake Jerry keeled over and yelped in pain, than suddenly shimmered and disappeared. Jerry pocketed the remote.
"Also, we have a special weapon we like to call God's Thumb." Seth said, as Jerry turned back to him.
"Why do you call it that?" Jerry asked.
"Well, ever been fried by a radiated beam of laser-focused sunlight from the heavens? No? I didn't think so. When you see this weapon in action, you'll see where it gets its name".
He grinned contagiously. "Well, I guess I'd better hand you over to Jolene. Come with me kid."