Chapter 02 - Exertion

The blue sky dimmed as the day passed into the evening. Since the firing of Trinity, the earth never went a minute without bein illuminated. The only way to tell that the sun had set was the colour of the sky. In the morning and throughout the day the skyt was a bright near-cyan blue, like a cloudless summer day of the old world. Once the moon rose, the sky became a deep blue, like that of the sea. On the ground below, however, light permeated and never vanished.

*Huff* *Huff* *Huff*

Eric was running around a large circular track. It was 6 lanes wide and surrounded an open sprawling field. Usually filled with a multitude of training equipment, due to it being so early in the year, everything was still away. Walking across the empty field, Alice and Iris were heading over to the “finish line” set up by the drone that had followed Eric out. It was a strip of wire being held by the drone and wrapped around a pole on the opposite side. Eric strode through the makeshift banner and dove to the grass and breathed heavily.

“Really? 60 laps and you’re this exhausted? With these suits this should be nothing for you.” Iris teased, tapping his side with her foot.

“Shut it, this drone disabled my suit, that’s why the little guy is following me around.” Eric sat up, grabbing the water bottle Alice was handing him. “Thanks, Alice.”

He chugged down the water and let out a satisfied sigh. He flopped back into the grass and spread his arms out, letting out another sigh. Giving Alice a smug smile, Iris flopped down too, her head laying on Eric’s stomach. Eric let out an ‘Oof’ sound from the unexpected impact. Alice, flustered, mimicked Iris and did the same and landed hard onto Eric’s chest, knocking the wind out of him.

“Hey guys, I appreciate the comfort but my suit is still deactivated and yours aren’t...” He said, his eyes spinning in his head.

The two girls looked at each other and started to laugh.

“So, who won at the firing range? Who had the best shots?” He paused, closing his eyes and grunting. “...So who do I owe a massage to?” His face went pale.

“Well... no one.” Alice said meekly.

Eric let out a confused noise.

“Alice kinda blew up the firing range.” Iris said, giggling.

“I didn’t blow it up! And I didn’t know that the scanner on the sniper did that! Why’d I get a sniper! It was huge! I can’t handle something that big!” Alice shouted out in a quick burst, sitting up. She looked at the two still lying down and her face reddened. “Shut up!”

“We didn’t say anything.” the two said in unison.

“Wait, what do you mean why did you get a sniper? Did everyone get different weapons?” Eric said, his interest piqued.

Iris and Alice explained everything that happened in the firing range from the unique weapons to the ominous warning and reminder from Halford about them being a part of a special mission.

“So, Alice got a massive sniper that explodes firing ranges and Iris got a burst rifle. What did I get?" Eric asked, placing his hand on his chin, less asking the girls and more pondering to himself.

“No idea. Didn’t open your case and I’m assuming we can’t, considering it’s biometrically locked.” Alice said, laying back down.

Eric’s head filled with all the possible gun types that could be in that case. He considered his friends weapons, rationalizing why they got them;

A mid-to-close-range rifle for Iris because of her excellence in making split second decisions and her physicality and high energy. He reasoned in his head. 

Alice got the sniper due to her pinpoint accuracy with nearly every weapon they were trained and tested in the exams and her ability to read scenarios. Again, reasoning to himself.

He scrunched his forehead trying to figure out where he excelled and what firearm would correlate with that. He knows he’s athletic and good at hand-to-hand combat, but that doesn’t translate to weaponry outside of melee. He exhaled slowly out his nose, mentally stumped. The three laid there in silence, basking in the evening glow of the burning deep blue sky.

“…”

“Mr. Valtor! At attention!”

A loud voice broke the peaceful silence. Eric jumped to his feet in an instant, pushing the two girls off him.

“Sir!”

“I see my punishment wasn’t severe enough.” Halford remarked, cross his arms.

“Negative, sir. I found it fitting and gave me time to reflect.” Eric pleaded.

“I’m sure it did.” He paused, taking a look at the two girls helping each other up. “I bet you can reflect on a lot with two woman laying on your chest.”

“Not what it seemed like, sir. They like to teas-“

“Save it. I came to deliver something to you. At ease. I’m sure your friends here mentioned these.” Halford reached into a vehicle that was behind him.

Somehow Halford managed to drive up to them across the field without any of the three noticing. The vehicle had the appearance of an old-world Japanese military officer’s scout car, only with sleeker wheels that looked more like discs than wheels of that era. He pulled out a weapons case and tossed it to Eric. Eric’s face had a slight panic knowing how the cases can react, but Halford simply chuckled. Eric caught the case as elegantly as possible to avoid jostling the case and activating a defense mechanism.

“At ease, that won’t cause anything. Feel free to open it.”

Eric hesitated at first thinking over if this was another trick or test. With encouragement from Iris and Alice, he decided to open it. He pressed his thumb to the scanner and the case popped open with a satisfying click. He slowly opened the lid, his excitement brewing to find out what weapon was designed for him, his mind raced in that instant from images of a shotgun to multiple variations of pistols. He gulped and finally swung the lid open, but what was waiting for him was not anything he could have expected.

“Uh, sir? Is this some kind of joke?” Eric asked, his face filled with confusion, expecting this to be another trick.

“Negative, that is what was crafted for you. I will explain more tomorrow morning, don’t go to weapons debriefing and meet me at hangar nine at 0600 hours.” Halford said, stepping into the vehicle. “And get a good rest, you’ll need it.” He drove off without further explanation.

Eric looked back at the case and stared at the contents inside; two black fingerless gloves with long vambraces that had wide lines running from each knuckle down to the base. These lines were thicker than the ones on their suits as well as the ones found on firearms. Each knuckle was tipped with a slightly pointed silver node-like protrusion. Eric stood there speechless, dumbfounded by the gloves in front of them and trying to decipher how these could be in the same class as the weapons Iris and Alice had told him about.

“Maybe it’s just another prank or maybe a test...” Alice said with an unconvincing tone.

“Yea, no way you just get some fancy gloves. You should definitely be equipped with dual pistols.” Iris said, her fingers in the shape of pistols pretending to shoot Alice and Eric as she mimicked a ‘pew pew’ sound.

“I don’t think so, it has to be for something else. As much as Halford hates me, I don’t think he’d tell me to miss a training class on the third day.” Eric closed the case and held it at his side. “Whatever it ends up being, I need to get some sleep. I’m exhausted and this drone still hasn’t reactivated my suit.”

“Let us help get you back to your room.” Iris said, with her and Alice turning around.

He looked at the two girls in front of him and shrugged his shoulders before place his arms over theirs. The girls followed suit and place their arms around his waist and they started to walk back to the dorms. After a few steps, Eric felt his head get heavy and his vision faded quickly. His head hung down as he lost consciousness. The two girls held him up with ease due to their suits, giving a quick panicked look at him, before hearing quiet breathing escape his mouth. They looked at each other and started to laugh.

“He’d be so lost without us, wouldn’t he?” Iris blurted out, caring not if she woke him.

“He’s always been like this since we were young. Pushing himself and never realizing he’d hit his limit just to prove a point.”

“And what point was he proving?”

“That Halford’s punishments don’t mean anything to him.” Alice smiled and drew her gaze to the ground. “I just hope he doesn’t push himself too hard when we’re not around to catch him.”