Chapter 8: The darkness within rises..

Location: Supply Room

"Hey general, uh, sir, I have a question, that is, if I can ask it." Jedi reluctantly spoke as he followed the general through the doors into the huge room beyond.

"Shoot. I was really only giving you crap when I said you needed to call me sir, look Jedi, you don't really need to call me general even. My mommy used to call me Tracy. Why? Because I read too many of the old Dick Tracy comic books, and I kept bugging her for one of the watches with one of the little radios in it. When I got it, I went around everywhere, thinking there was a crime going on. One day I found it, literally. A guy was being mugged, so I called it in, only to be overheard, and thrashed to within an inch of my life. After that, I didn't go outside, I didn't play. All I did was go to school, go home, eat, and sleep. After I graduated, I joined the Space Force. I got the nickname Ole Red there, but enough of that. Simply put, you call me Red from now on. Got it?"

"Yes. Um, I know you just got back from nostalgia and all, but I really wanted to ask you a question about page 53 in the manual..."

"Oh, you mean the page about the Emergency Procedures in case of decompression of the ship. What? Cat got your tongue?" Red asked the young man who had a look of confusion on his face.

"That isn't on page 53. Page 53 concerns with something called mode B. I was wondering what that was. Here's the manual if you want to look at it." With that, Jedi produced the book out of his pack and handed it to Red. Red looked at it, flipped through it a couple of times, and asked carefully, "Where did you get this?"

"It was on my desk in my room when I walked in. I thought nothing of it, and went a head and read it straight through. I don't know what you were talking about a second ago, but it wasn't in there." Jedi said as the general's face began to grow wrinkles of worry.

"Son, we don't have any information on your systems. We were putting you through training with the other Cyborgs to see if maybe you would be able to learn from them, but this is nothing like what should have been in your room. This should have been a copy of the History book that most high school seniors have."

"It might be time to get the old magnifying lens out again Tracy." Jedi said with a grin as they approached a door marked in stenciled letters "Supply- Weapons/Mission Specialty (Level 4)."

"Okay, I want you to forget about the manual for now, I am going to take it to be analyzed. We need to get you fitted with a combat uniform, and some weapons, other than your hand. It may look nice, but we have a few things that may help you out." Red said as he tucked the book inside his coat. "Here ya go. One Cyborg special pack. Full of the goods." The clerk behind the desk said as he slammed a backpack that looked more like something that a kindergartner should have carried around. Laid beside it was an off gray uniform. It had blue trim around the cuffs, and around the neck. On the right breast was an American flag, "Good ol' Stars and Stripes" Jedi thought, with Jedi Rilet beneath it. It was awesome, it fit perfectly, but there was one problem.

"Um, what rank does this stand for?" Jedi asked the clerk.

"That would be Lt. Colonel, sir." The clerk said, "Is something wrong?"

"No, I just thought that I was a lieutenant..." Jedi trailed off as he turned to see Red, who was true to his name, about to burst out laughing.

"Can't expect to be asleep for fifty years without a change in rank can ya? Come on, we have to go, you have a flight to catch down to the surface."

"DOWN TO THE WHAT?"

"The surface. You know, good ole Terra Firma. Don't tell me no one told you that you had been on a space ship this whole time!"

"No, they didn't."

Jedi was astonished. In fifty years, man had gone from only making trips to low-orbit, to full blown space ships that stayed in space! They produced their own gravity even! As he walked along, he wondered just how much the surface had to have changed, if man was now able to live in space.

"Now, when you get down there, you will meet up with the other cyborgs, and start heading for the rendezvous point with the US forces. Unfortunately, most of our forces were caught in training, so we don't have much at the normal defense points. We need your help securing the United Nations and the US government. If we lose them, we might as well call it quits. Okay, I have to stay here. We have to sortie out in an hour, to try to stop the Dortde main fleet." Red told Jedi as he gave him a small box. Inside were two medals, a Purple Heart, and the Congressional Medal of Honor. "Son, those are yours. Now I want you to hold onto these for me, and give them back to me when I get back to Earth, okay?" Red was almost crying as he took off his medals and put them inside of the box.

"Departure in one minute." The pilot said over the intercom.

"Thank you, sir. I will take care of them." Jedi said as the old man suddenly threw his arms around him and threw teary eyes told him not to die, and

"You remind me so much of my son."

Harold of light : wipes teardrop Things are heating up, so here we go! I will try to get a chapter up every so often, but no promises!