The Early Years:
The next four months brought eight more X1s into the world that was Manticore. Another male, X1-547, a female X1-394... the list went on. I made little effort to memorize their names, err, numbers - I would never have much contact with them anyway. Well, within a year all the X1s had been born -- 18 in total. 18 newly minted Manticore soldiers. Lydecker walked around beaming, hope for the future burned in his eyes.
Training started the moment they came into the world. 'Be tough little soldiers' was the message. The only message. And they learned it quickly. Their only contacts were each other, a few nurses, and of course, Lydecker. You couldn't even really say they were unhappy -- after all, they knew no other life.
From the moment they could walk they walked in order, marching through hallways in perfect soldier formation. It was actually quite impressive to see two and three year olds marching perfectly down the halls, perfectly well behaved. How many well-behaved toddlers do you know? See, told ya it was impressive. Anyway, they didn't have toys; 'playtime' was spent rolling around play fighting (which was always encouraged). They always reminded me of kittens who learn how to hunt and kill by playing with littermates.
First words were typically "Sir," "Mission," "Duty," or "Discipline." Which was fitting seeing as those were the words they were bombarded with from birth. Classroom work was started at 1 and by the time they were 5 they knew more then most high school grads. Mission. Duty. Discipline. Three words they heard day in and day out, every day, and in every room. "Mind over Matter." They were taught that they could do anything once they put their minds to it. Heck, I even started to believe it!
The play fighting turned into learning techniques, which turned into sparing, contests, and developing speed and skill. By the time they were 7 most could easily flip a grown man on his back with ease. That was another amazing sight. If someone had told me I would watch little kids take out whole units of trained soldiers I would've laughed and told whomever to get off whatever they were on. But here I was, and there they were.
They were the best soldiers in the world. That's what they had been bred to be. What they were meant to be. But I could tell Lydecker wanted more. The glimmer in his eyes slowly faded away, taking with it all the proud smiles. Yes, they were fast, but not fast enough. Yes, their reflexes were twice as quick as a normal human's -- Lydecker wanted them four times as fast. Yes, they learned quickly, but they just did not seem to have a natural aptitude for learning and memorizing. They were the bravest and fiercest soldiers I'd ever seen, but they weren't enough, not for Lydecker. Not for Manticore. So, before the X1s had even reached 4 years of age, Lydecker started again.
The next four months brought eight more X1s into the world that was Manticore. Another male, X1-547, a female X1-394... the list went on. I made little effort to memorize their names, err, numbers - I would never have much contact with them anyway. Well, within a year all the X1s had been born -- 18 in total. 18 newly minted Manticore soldiers. Lydecker walked around beaming, hope for the future burned in his eyes.
Training started the moment they came into the world. 'Be tough little soldiers' was the message. The only message. And they learned it quickly. Their only contacts were each other, a few nurses, and of course, Lydecker. You couldn't even really say they were unhappy -- after all, they knew no other life.
From the moment they could walk they walked in order, marching through hallways in perfect soldier formation. It was actually quite impressive to see two and three year olds marching perfectly down the halls, perfectly well behaved. How many well-behaved toddlers do you know? See, told ya it was impressive. Anyway, they didn't have toys; 'playtime' was spent rolling around play fighting (which was always encouraged). They always reminded me of kittens who learn how to hunt and kill by playing with littermates.
First words were typically "Sir," "Mission," "Duty," or "Discipline." Which was fitting seeing as those were the words they were bombarded with from birth. Classroom work was started at 1 and by the time they were 5 they knew more then most high school grads. Mission. Duty. Discipline. Three words they heard day in and day out, every day, and in every room. "Mind over Matter." They were taught that they could do anything once they put their minds to it. Heck, I even started to believe it!
The play fighting turned into learning techniques, which turned into sparing, contests, and developing speed and skill. By the time they were 7 most could easily flip a grown man on his back with ease. That was another amazing sight. If someone had told me I would watch little kids take out whole units of trained soldiers I would've laughed and told whomever to get off whatever they were on. But here I was, and there they were.
They were the best soldiers in the world. That's what they had been bred to be. What they were meant to be. But I could tell Lydecker wanted more. The glimmer in his eyes slowly faded away, taking with it all the proud smiles. Yes, they were fast, but not fast enough. Yes, their reflexes were twice as quick as a normal human's -- Lydecker wanted them four times as fast. Yes, they learned quickly, but they just did not seem to have a natural aptitude for learning and memorizing. They were the bravest and fiercest soldiers I'd ever seen, but they weren't enough, not for Lydecker. Not for Manticore. So, before the X1s had even reached 4 years of age, Lydecker started again.