Chapter 4
I was in the waste land again, where the dirt is red/brown and light like sand. The wind kicked some up in the already thick and heavy air. The sun was scorching here, it felt like I could melt at any moment.
Again, I didn't understand why I was here. And once again I had the same feeling someone was calling me.
I was standing around the spiky rock structures looking around trying to find why I was here. I yelled out a 'hello' again, but there was no reply. All there was, was a hissing like sound in the background, so I knew something was there, but I didn't know what. I had no visual of it.
It drew closer, I could hear it moving. I turned in that direction waiting for something to appear. I saw nothing. I started to walk in the direction it was coming from, which was in the rock structure.
I walked into the darkness of the... cave? As I walked into the frigid darkness all I hoped for was not to be killed by a monster. Even knowing that, I took my chances to find out what was beckoning me.
Just as I was feeling I was going to figure out what it was I was awaken once again.
"Wake-y Wake-y, rise and shine!" Arties voice came from the front of the room, disturbing all the sleeping Launchies sleep.
All the kids raised from their beds scrambling once again to stand in front of their beds into the respected lineup.
"Put on your battle room suits. That is the padded one with the helmet and the weapon. Do not attempt to fire the weapon. Holster it. LETS MOVE IT Launchies, we have 10 MINUTES!" After the sergeant woken them up and gave out orders, he then left them to get ready.
All the Launchies jolted to life after Sergeant Nielsen left. They all scurried around getting what they needed. Once they finished their task, they left to the hallway to find Artie waiting for them. After everyone was out he instructed them into platoon formation. As soon as they got that settled, they marched following Sergeant Artie Nielsen's lead.
When they reached the other end of the space station, they came across stairs leading to there destination. The platoon marched up the stairs to find Colonel Valda waiting on the side in front of a blast door. The sergeant stood off to the side by the colonel, against the wall.
When all the Launchies made it up the stairs Colonel Valda yelled, "At ease!"
With in seconds the command was give all the Launchies spread their feet apart and put their hands behind their backs.
"This is the Battle Room. In here the floor has been designed to create an earth like gravitational pull." The colonel pointed with his finger to the gate and stated, "Step through that gate, and your in a zero G environment."
Valda then moved closer to the wall to get to a small metal box that was on the wall in front of the gate. He pulled open the door using the latch at the top. He took a small gadget that looked like a hook like object, then proceeded to put it on his hand between is thumb and forefinger. It looked much like putting a paperclip to paper, very snug as is wrapped his hand.
A few of the Launchies that were in the front watched as Valda did this.
Helena was in the front on the left side from her prospective. She was standing next to Sergeant Nielsen and Myka who was next to her in their platoon formation on her right, and Pete was right behind Myka. Artie put them in the order of their beds.
H.G. was really quite curious to know what that gadget was for, but stayed silent like all the others in her platoon. Helena's attention was redirected to the colonel as Valda called her.
"Wells. Get up here." Valda commanded.
H.G. took a deep breath and walked towards the colonel. As she did, Sergeant Nielsen looked at her as she passed him and all her platoon watched in wonderment.
As she made it to the front, Valda pressed down on the gadget on his hand and the blast doors opened, revealing the most amazing, intriguing, breath taking room H.G. has ever seen. Helena stared at it in befuddlement. She stared at the room looking around to find that it was a sphere.
The sphere had an interesting intricate design to it, much like hamster ball cage. Where there would be big wholes, there was a gated fence like design. It was reinforced with bullet proof glass so you could see outside, see the amazing views of space. The room also had what appeared to be floating octahedron (3D diamond) objects scattered all over the room. They were stationary, but had nothing holding them up.
H.G. looked just to the side of her on her right and saw a handle, she grabbed it and leaned forward and looked down seeing how far down the room was. It was quite far and there was no ladder or anything leading all the way down to the bottom, but there were bars that could be used as a ladder getting in or out, much like the ones she was using to not fall in. The bars though, only went so far, it seemed like it was designed for people to grab a hold of to get into the hallway like room she was in currently, then to get out into the sphere like room.
She stood up straight again and looked to her left towards the colonel and asked, "What do I do now, sir?"
Colonel Valda was watching Helena the whole time. In his reply he motioned his eyes to the room, "Go on in." He looked back at H.G., watching her again, waiting to see what she will do.
Helena took a breath again trying to get rid of her nervousness. She reached for the handle again and gabbed hold with both hands. She found other handles next to this one going down the right. When she was completely in the room she was horizontal instead of vertical, like she would normally be if there was gravity. She made her way to the closest two handles and griped them both with one hand each. H.G. looked at the colonel not sure what she should do next.
Valda noticed she was waiting for his instruction to direct her to the next step and said, "Ok now, push off."
Helena did as she was told and she pulled herself to the bars and then pushed away, back and forth till she thought she had good momentum, and then pushed off and let go, not remembering that she didn't need to make much effort in a zero G environment.
When she let go of the bars she was floating and tumbling in the air. "Woah." escaped her lips as she was amazed. She was smiling as she never felt anything like this.
She was being flipped around and noticed that she was going to collided with a 3D diamond and had no time to react and hit her head into it, luckily she was wearing a helmet. After her collision she flipped again and was heading for another one this time she had time to react and reached out her hands at the appropriate time. H.G. grabbed on to the rims and edges of the object and got her bearings.
As Helena steadied herself she heard other excited voices towards the gate she came from. She looked back in amusement as a lot of the kids were having way more trouble with this then her.
Myka watched Helena as she pushed off and floated away. As she was directed forward she saw H.G. hit her head into one of the 3 dimensional diamonds.
Myka was told to enter the battle room. When she pushed off she ended up floating into the caged wall, she gabbed hold onto the edges of it and looked around as more and more Launchies were coming in. She saw Pete push off. He tumbled to the other side of the room.
After a moment Myka looked around for Helena and found her on a floating stationary 3D diamond shaped object. She readjusted herself, pulling herself into a ball putting her feet to the platform of the wall. Myka then looked up and directed herself to the place she wanted to go and then kicked off with her feet as she let go and headed straight into Helena's direction.
Helena saw Myka as she come right over her head and she landed on the next diamond over that was right next to the one she currently was on. She was glad Myka was here and was stunned by how quickly she was able to adapted and move in here. "Nicely done, darling." Helena complimented with a smile.
Myka smiled back warningly and stated, "Most of them are trying to stay up the way they came in, but like you said in the shuttle, there is no up or down in space."
H.G. was happy that Myka paid attention to what she said in the shuttle and that she got what was so amusing about it. However, she was thinking about what could be the purpose to this room, she immediately said right after Myka finished, "But we need something to orientate in here." She thought for a seconded and then suggested amusingly, "Maybe the enemies gate is down."
"Ok, I get you." Myka replied just as amused and then suggested "Like they are bugs to be crushed under are feet."
Helena nodded and said, "Exactly." with a amused smile. She then looked down to see her gun and picked it up out of the holster and asked, "What do you think this does?"
Myka answered excited, "Lets find out!"
H.G. aimed the gun away from both of them and fired a shot. A blue laser shot out of it and hit a diamond that was in that direction. The shot didn't seem to do anything to the object that took the blow.
"Woah!" Myka said in amazement. "Well that is harmless." She stated noting that there was no damage done to the object.
After Helena saw what happened she looked at the gun intriguingly and smiled amusingly. She wandered what would happen if someone got shot with it.
Myka must have been on the same page because she asked, "What do you suppose it does when it hits a person's suit?"
"Good question, darling." Helena replied amused and curious. She pushed off her diamond aiming to go next to Myka over head. She reached to the objected and gabbed on. She was right next to Myka now. Just as she steadied herself she suggested, "Shoot me in the leg."
Myka interrupted, "We shoot each other at same time." Myka readjusted herself so that they could shoot each others legs.
Helena was shocked and greatly amused. Myka really knew how to wow a girl, and to keep her guessing. She would gladly let Myka do anything to her as long as she made her feel like this, a feeling that she still has yet to give name to. She replied a second later "Right-y ho, then."
Once Myka got settled she unholstered her gun and asked, "Ready?" with an excited smile.
They both aimed their guns at each other.
Helena stated "on 3."
Myka gave a curt nod
They counted down together aiming their guns at each others leg, "1, 2, 3." They both fired.
The fibers in the suit clutched and bond together. It appeared to be a type of freezing ray.
"Woah!" Myka said again in shock and amazement. "My leg is frozen!"
"Mine too. I can't bend my knee." Helena agreed. Just then she had an idea and pushed off the diamond with little force and commanded happily, "Shoot me in the chest." She was excited and in be-found wonderment. She wanted to know more.
Myka was just staring at her with befuddlement. She didn't seem to register what was asked of her. She seemed to be out of it, just staring at Helena as she floated away.
Myka was entranced by Helena, how happy and care free she was being. She never seen H.G. like this before, it was beautiful, freeing seeing her like this, being a curious kid with nothing to worry about. She usually was pretty stiff and hid behind a mask as to not get hurt in their curl reality. Myka would love to see more of this Helena, to be able to have relaxing fun times just being themselves.
"Come on, I am getting away." came Helena's voice.
Myka suddenly seemed to have woken up and aimed her gun and fired. She hit H.G. square in the chest.
"This is amazing! I can't move at all now!" Helena exclaimed in complete amazement.
"You are out of your mind, did you know that?" Myka asked while shaking her head in amusement.
Helena just had a goofy, happy, playful expression on her face that Myka has never seen from her. Most of the time she seemed to be unhappy and drawn into herself, unless of course they are talking and hang out. Myka is happy and a little relieved that Helena can be like a kid for once, happy and enjoying new things.
Colonel Valda and Sergeant Nielsen have been standing in front of the gate outside of the room watching the Launchies float in the battle room for about 15 minutes to half an hour by now.
Valda looks over to Artie and states, "That's enough."
The sergeant doesn't reply, just nods his head.
The colonel looks back towards the battle room and lefts up is hand that has the gadget on it and pulls his hand towards himself ever so slightly. All the Launchies come towards him like a gravitational pull. He then holds out his hand, palm facing the room, much like the universal sign of stop and then closes his fist. All the Launchies come into formation in front of him. They are now floating, but solidified. They could move some, just not very much.
A few moments after Myka shot Helena they were pulled towards the gate in which they came from. It was like they were caught in a gravitational pull that was pulling them in. When they got close to the gate they where flipped right side up again and into a platoon formation. Both of them were flipped right-side-up in the front again facing the gate, looking straight ahead at Colonel Valda. Myka and H.G., much like the other Launchies, found they could not move much.
Myka wanted to know were Pete ended up, but couldn't, but assumed he was behind her like last time.
When all the Launchies came together Colonel Valda finally spoke, "Your flapping around like a bunch of drunken ducks. If you expect to compete with the other teams at this school, you have got a lot to learn. Sergeant explain the game."
"Yes, sir." Artie came over and started to explain the game. "You will train to compete as a team against other teams. You get 1 point to a hit to a limb, 6 for a torso hit, which will immobilize you completely, but if either side gets 1 cadet through their enemies gate unharmed that army will win. Regardless of points already scored. Am I clear."
All the Launchies yelled, "Sir, Yes, Sir."
They were then dragged forward again to leave the room, but one at a time to land on the ground again. The colonel and the sergeant would grab onto their arms helping them into gate bay.
Once all the Launchies got into the bay the sergeant got them back into platoon formation and told them to move out. They followed him back to their dormitory, while the colonel headed back to his office quarters.
Sergeant Nielsen directed the Launchies strip out of their battle uniforms into their regular uniforms and grab an extra pair of clothes. They were to head to the training facility. After that, Artie told them they had lunch and then they could do what they wanted in the wing directed to them. There was a game room, library, and some other places of interest. They were to be at dinner by 19:00 hrs, then their dormitory.
The Launchies made their way to the training facility. They all knew what was scheduled for learning today. They will be continuing with learning blocks, holds and grabs and also will be showed how to properly dismantle a gun and how to clean it.
When they all got there Nielsen went over what they will be covering today in class and got straight to work.
They were to choose a partner again for hand to hand. Myka and Helena were a team again. Helena didn't pull any stunts today, but was still charming and witty as they talked amongst themselves.
This went on for about 15 minutes, they then processed to go down the hall to one of the other rooms. The room they walked into had benches and along the wall were shelves with weapons on them. On the other side of the room there was a shooting range setup for practice.
Sergeant Nielsen pulled out the gun like weapon that they all carried earlier that day in the Battle Room. He informed them that this weapon was what they will be using in the games here. "This is a Light Gun. As I explained earlier it freezes your opponents. A hit to a limb will only freeze that part of your body, but a torso hit will immobilize you completely. Now, before you learn how to shoot your weapon, you will familiarize your selves with it. You are expected to know how to take it apart and to put it back together again. You are to know the ins and outs of your weapon before you can attempt to fire it. This will insure that you will know how to safely handle your weapon as well as take care of it."
They were then shown by Sergeant Nielsen how to dismantle and clean a gun. They were all using ones provided for practice in here. H.G. was a quick study of taking the gun apart, figuring out what each thing was and how to popularly clean it, then resemble it back together again. Myka also was getting it, just not as quickly as Helena, but it was clicking. Others were getting the hang of it too.
After Artie thought they got the hang of the weapon and how to properly take care of it, he went on to showing them the proper stance in holding the gun and how to aim.
They were all given chances to try shooting at the shooting range. Myka was a natural, she had a sharp eye and was getting the hang of shooting very quickly, more so then her classmates. Pete and a couple of other kids were fairing a lot better then a lot of the class. Helena wasn't bad but wasn't great either.
Helena was impressed with Myka and was hoping when they decided to start teaching each other their different styles of fighting that they would also help each other out with other things they struggled with. Pete could even join for all she cared, sometimes. She just wanted to learn more about her and be around her. Myka was starting to mean everything to Helena. She started to hope that she might not be alone in the world from now on.
They finished up in the training facility and headed to the showers, then to dormitories to put away their things and to grab whatever they wanted or needed. They were to head to lunch and then rest of the day was theirs to do as they please, as long as it was allowed and in their directed area.
After lunch Helena, Myka and Pete decided to check out all the places to see and what was in them. The first stop was the Library as both Myka and Helena wanted to visit it.
Myka and Helena walked into to the very large room full of books, followed by a reluctant Pete.
It was Myka's heaven to be, she would not mind staying there for a very long time. There were so many books to choose from. She stroked the books on the closest shelf and she walked down the aisles looking at all the books and their titles. She breathed in the air of old musty books, it gave her the since of home.
She mentioned it to Helena at one point that she grew up in a book store. Pete already knew about it as he was her best friend at school back on earth and ended up coming over from time to time. She missed her home a lot, or more correctly the book store her family owned.
Her father was much like Helena's, she could never seem to please him even though she has made it this far and has some of the highest grades. While growing up she knew that her father wanted a boy, instead he had 2 girls, Myka being his eldest. Much like Helena, she tried her best at pleasing her father to no avail. They were both drilled into, to uphold their family's name and pride. They both had a lot in common and that is why they become such fast friends. Both Myka and Helena did not discuss to much on the subject of their family life, but they both could see, and assume from what each other has shared. They didn't need to know everything to get the gist of what was going on. They both just wanted to be there for the other.
After awhile Pete got really bored for there was not much in there he liked. He went for comic books, which they really didn't have because this was a school. He suggested the game room to them.
Helena wanted to see what games there were available to them and to see if there was anyone she might want to challenge.
Once the three of them reached the game room the they observed the kids playing them and learned what each one was about. The game room looked much like an arcade place, there was games and people everywhere.
Pete and Helena decided to give the games a try. They both played each other in a cerebral fighting game.
The game was played off of a projector that was quite big. They didn't have to pick characters because all they had to think of one to play as from their mind. They both stuck to humanoid figures because that was how the game was designed, it was just hand to hand combat. They picked a level that was in the system already as they could not pick one themselves.
Once they were all setup, they played hoping to beat the other, while Myka just watched as her two best friends fought each other.
Myka had her money on Helena hands down as she already knew that she knew a lot more about hand to hand then Pete and herself.
"Take some of this and a little some of that!" Pet started shouting to Helena as his character was drop kicking H.G.
He bum-rushed her from the start not giving Helena a chance to block. She let him have his fun for now.
Her character was on the ground with Pete's standing above her. She took a hold of his leg and pulled. His leg gave out and he fell to the ground beside her.
Helena smiled humorously and teased with the utter most confidence, "You were saying, dear Pete. I believe the game is still afoot."
Myka was watching off to the side laughing at her friends antics. She knew Helena was holding back and seeing what her opponent was capable of.
Both Helena and Pete got up putting distance to each other, they then started circling each other waiting for each other to make the first move. They did this for about a minute before Helena went in charging.
Pete took a stance grounding himself expecting an attack.
When she reached him she went for a strike to the face, which he blocked. She then went for the stomach as she moved herself to the side of him.
He blocked that attack and anticipated, waiting for another one to come at him just as fast, or faster while he was currently blocking this one, and because of that he didn't see her next move coming.
She dropped to the ground and spun her leg into him kicking his feet from under him again.
He reacted last minute and grabbed onto her shoulders with both hands, picking her back up as he fell. He used her as leverage to pick up his legs and aim them right into Helena's stomach.
They both fell back and hit the ground. H.G. character clutched her stomach in pain. She sat there for a moment then got back up again as Pete was doing the same.
"Not bad Pete. I hope you know that I wont let that happen again." Helena stated seriously. She was now warmed up and is pretty sure she could take Pete.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." He replied back brushing off her comment. He then continued to say casually with over confidence. "But don't think that is all I am capable of. I have plenty more where that came from."
"Indeed. It seems Mr. Lattimer, this is only the beginning." she smiled graciously. She decided that she will hold nothing back and annihilate him quickly to show him how she will not be so easy to take down.
Myka knew right then and there, Helena was going to end this quickly, to show Pete what he was really dealing with.
They were back to square one again, they both were circling each other, waiting to see if the other will make the first move again.
Pete went in first this time. He started running towards her, then jumped up to get more force, aiming to land on Helena.
She saw this and held up her hands to block. When he came down aiming a punch to her face she grabbed on to his forearm and used her legs to grab hold of him around the waist, she then flipped him over head as she dropped down into a tumble rolled doing a backwards somersault and let go.
Pete went flying into a wall that was on this level pretty hard.
It was K.O. for Pete as the screen flashed K.O. over the video feed of their game. It then showed a slowed down version of the play that went down to see Pete get knocked out.
Helena smiled triumphantly. See looked at Pete and held out her hand.
Pete on the other hand whined, "Aww man... and I was just about to go all Jet Lee on you." He looked away from the screen to Helena to see her holding out her hand for a handshake.
Pete looked to the hand to Helena and stated, "Good game Helena." shaking her hand. After they let go he stated to her, "You know you don't have to do that after every game with me and Myka, cause we are friends and know that you were being a good sport."
"Ok." she simply replied taking his word for it.
"Now lets see what else is fun around here." Pete said in excitement.
I was having the most fun I have had...ever. I don't recall being this happy in ages, if at all. We bounced around the room playing games with one another. It was fun and exciting. I felt free like I was in the battle room with zero gravity.
We at the time didn't know that trouble was lurking not far behind us. Are fun was about to come to an end and a competition was about to begin.
To Be Continued...