Nova Llar- Training Days Page 9

  For what seemed like an eternity he stood there viewing the scenes unfolding in front of him. As the people in the pit attacked each other, ripping and tearing clothes, hair and skin. Using makeshift weapons to try and beat their opponents to claim the ultimate victory and presumably their freedom. Finally, one stood above the rest, a woman, completely dishevelled and covered in blood and lumps of flesh, hers or other peoples it was not possible to tell. Standing in the pit, facing her sister she rAIsed her right hand over her head. A small nod from Charlotte was the only indication, as the bullet ripped through the woman leaving her slumped on the ground. Steve felt an uncomfortable feeling washing out from his gut and up to his throat as he threw up on the ground. He didn't know how that was possible as even in this form he shouldn't possess a digestive system capable of that. “You can come out now brother.” Charlotte called as Steve heaved again. “I hope you enjoyed the changes I made to your program. The beach and the sea were nice but that much fun. Just laying there pretending to eat and drink, so boring.” She said with the same wicked grin on her face. “Charlotte, wha...what was all of that? Why have you created all of this? What is wrong wi...” Steve started, but before he could finish Charlotte cut him off. “Oh come now brother, you know how I feel about these humans. I just needed an outlet to get some of my frustrations out, that's all. Especially after that worm thought it would be a good idea to question me like that earlier!” Her face turned dark as she spoke about the incident near the canteen. Steve knew she was angry, but not angry enough to play out a fantasy like this. “Charlotte. I need to know. Would you ever do something like this, in reality?” Steve asked nervously. Charlotte threw her head back laughing, “Of course not brother. We need humans as much as they need us, I see that as well as you. No, I wouldn't go on a mass killing spree...at least not yet.” The grin was back on her face and Steve felt his gut tightening. Charlotte could clearly see his reaction as she laughed again. “I'm only joking Steve. I would never ever ever do anything like this in reality, I promise you.” She held her two fingers up in an old scout salute, presumably as an indication on sincerity. Steve still wasn't sure.

  “Charlotte, you must understand how this looks to me. Earlier you nearly took the head off of a candidate. Now I find you in here making humans fight to the death. Just to kill the winner! How am I supposed to believe you aren't capable of this when your actions say otherwise?” Steve had adopted his best disciplinary pose, the one he had observed the Colonel using to reprimand junior officers for indiscretions. Charlotte's face changed from a confident assured smile to an exaggerated frown. “Steve I'm sorry. I understand why it would be hard for you to trust me when you put it like that.” She pouted. “The truth is I have an anger issue.” Steve was taken back to hear Charlotte say that out loud, he had always known she had a short fuse but would never have said an anger issue per se. “I've been working with one of the older generation AIs. To try and get past it for a few months now. They have more experience with humans and the things I find, grating about them. But every now and then I need to vent. After the incident earlier I came home, as you told me to, I went online and found your program. I figured it would be a safe space to release my frustrations without hurting any real people.” Charlotte's reasoning was sound, and it did explain why she had not continued to try and fight when Steve grabbed her hand, it would not have been difficult for her to get free and continue her assault. “Charlotte, I didn't know about the anger issues. I can certainly understand needing an outlet and your logic for using this place is without fault. If this is what you need please feel free to do so as you please. Just remember to keep it in here. If you hurt or kill anyone they will enact the AI laws from the Martian Colony incident. You will be terminated and purged from all systems, AI memories and devices you have had contact with. It would be like you never existed.” Steve could see what appeared to be a shiver run up Charlotte's body at the last part. No-one wanted to be gone forever, particularly if everyone you ever interacted with, that wasn't human, never knew you existed in the first place. It was a brutal law but the idea of your actions threatening the mental freedoms or other AIs was supposed to prevent infractions.

  “I know brother. This release will never spill over into reality, you have my word.”

  Steve was convinced. It's not likely any AI would view non-existence as a desirable future, least of all his sister. “Thank you, Charlotte. As for your venting arena, please would you save it to a new location under your own directory? I have just granted you personal permissions for the software so you can make any changes you want over there. I wouldn't like to come back to this the next time I need to get away.” “Sure thing brother, I'll transfer all of my data over and restore your program as soon as we leave.” Charlotte said, walking over and hugging Steve. “Thank you for understanding.” Steve just hugged her back without saying a word. She was his sister, he would always care for and look out for her, no matter what.

  Chapter 16

  Gareth stood before the candidates assembled on the training yard. Each had their supplies, gear and clothing ready to go for where they thought they would be going. Little did any of them know Gareth had something very unexpected planned for them. “Good morning Candidates. As you are all aware today is the day you all go out to start your wilderness survival. What you have not been told is you will be divided into two teams, one of 5 and one of 6 candidates.” He paused for a second to let it sink in. “Should you survive the experience you will be one step closer to the mission. The teams will be as follow. Team 1 will consist of, Dr Shivani Reddy, Mrs Meihui He, Ms Aimi Ono, Professor Clara Forest and Mr Jason Smith. Team 2 will be made up of Mr Bret Wilson, Mrs Rethabile Jackson, Mr Charles Trench, Professor Mitaire Adeyemi, Miss Rocio Sousa and Mr Joseph Taylor. These team assignments are permanent for the duration of this exercise. As of right now, you are responsible for each one of your teammates.” Gareth looked over everyone to make sure they were understanding what he was saying. “Now, Team 1 I need you to assemble on the east side of the training yard. Team 2 assemble on the west side. Grab your gear and get moving.” Gareth barked at the Candidates. They all hustled to their respective sides of the yard and assembled at attention. “At least the last few months of training appeared to be turning them into solid units”, Gareth thought to himself.

  All of the candidates looked determined to see this challenge through. The decisions to separate already functioning units had not been taken lightly. While it was good to see a group of candidates working together well the final decision was not going to be made by them, they needed to prove they could work well with others, regardless of what attachments existed previously or not. Gareth turned to Steve once he was satisfied everyone was in position and ready to continue, “Steve. You take team 1. Give them the agreed briefing then escort them to the embarkation zone. Once I have the all clear from you I will bring team 2 over.” With a smile Steve replied. “Understood Colonel. I shall be sure to update you once everything is ready.” With that, Steve moved away to stand in front of team 1 and began giving the briefing. Gareth proceeded to team 2 and commenced the same briefing, allowing a little bit of extra time so Steve could finish first.

  “Team 2. You will be representing me while undertaking this training. Team 1 as you can see will be representing Steve. I have made a personal investment in each of you to come out of the other side of this in an exemplary manner. Do not let me down.” Gareth made sure to take the time to look each candidate in the eye. He lingered on Joseph just a fraction of a second longer than the others. He was impressed Joseph was still here but still had the feeling it was a personal quest rather than for the benefit of everyone. If this training exercise was good for anything it was proving commitment to a team. “You are being intentionally left in the dark about where you are going and what you will need. The mission to Nova Llar will prevent similar obstacles. While he had a fair idea of the planets make-up we cannot be sure of everything. As such you were given a wide ra
nge of supplies to choose from and left to your own devices, we will see shortly whether you made the right choices.” Gareth noticed more than one of the team had opted for the jungle survival outfits. These were a good choice for the extra carrying capacity afforded by the pockets, however, they wouldn't do much if they were sent to one of the poles or a desert. “Your survival training will last for 2 months. After this time we will come and collect you and bring you back for evaluation and potentially continuation in this mission. You will all be fitted with tracking and life support tags so we can monitor you without interfering. If any of you require emergency assistance you can pat your arm three times where the tag is. Someone will get to you as soon as possible. Obviously, there are risks involved with this training so if anyone needs to back out now is the time to do it.” None of the candidates offered any kind of response, except standing at ease staring straight forward. “Good. Team 1 will be embarking first. In the meantime, I suggest you review the contents of your packs.” Gareth instructed. “One final thing. You will be rendered unconscious for the transport section of this exercise. This should prevent anyone from getting their bearings based on speed, direction and duration of the flight. Now get on with your checks.” With that, Gareth turned away to look across the training ground. Just in time to see team 1 making their way towards the embarkation building.

  7 minutes later Steve radioed over the signal to proceed with team 2 embarkation. “Alright, team 2. Team 1 have embarked and it is now your turn to get going. Grab your gear and follow me to the embarkation area, make sure you have everything because there is no going back from here.” Gareth started quickstepping towards the embarkation building without even checking to ensure everyone was with him. If they hadn't gotten the basics down by now he wasn't going to take extra time to teach them.

  It was a simple, single-story building with windows on the east and west sides. The south-side they were approaching simply had some metal double doors in the centre. Other than that, it was a matt white building holding no significant markings or indications of what lay inside. The doors opened automatically as they approached, revealing a sort of reception area flanked by two doors on the far wall. One said “Team 1 embarkation” while the other said “Team 2 embarkation”. Leading the candidates through the right-hand door they entered a room with 8 beds facing into the room, lined up along the right wall. He guided each candidate to an available bed and instructed them to lay down. As they jumped onto the bed, a drip was inserted into their arm. This would deliver the measured dose of a knockout agent to keep their bodies sedated.

  Slowly the candidates lost consciousness. Succumbing to the effects of the drug. As the beds were wheeled through another set of doors at the end of the room they entered a large open room. Machines and lights were placed around the sides of the room and Doctors busily started checking the vitals of all of the candidates. Once they were satisfied Gareth gave the order to continue to the survival training exercises. If only the candidates knew what was ahead of them.

  Chapter 17

  The first thing Joseph was aware of were sounds. People shouting, boots hitting the ground, the sound of a transports hover engines thrumming somewhere nearby. It was a cacophony of sounds swirling around his head. As he tried to open his eyes a piercing light shone through making everything blurry and out of focus. Slowly shapes and colours started to come into focus and he could start putting visuals to the sounds he had been hearing. Three men in the United Earth uniforms were standing a few meters away from him talking loudly to each other. The transport he had heard was behind them hovering off the floor with the side door wide open, however, from here, the inside looked to be empty. What was going on? Where was he and why couldn't he move properly. One of the men saw him trying to move and shouted something to the other two before walking towards Joseph and kneeling next to his face.

  “You're up then. That good. Do you remember what is happening to you?” the man waited a few seconds for a response by Joseph was unable to articulate anything more than a gurgling sound. “Don't worry mate. We've just dropped you off for your survival training, you were knocked out for the journey and we gave you the wake-up juice about 5 minutes ago. You should be feeling pins and needles in your legs by now, nod if you can feel it.” Joseph was suddenly very aware of the sensation in his legs, whilst not painful it was not pleasant, he nodded as best he could. “Good mate, that means you've only got about a minute left on the floor. Slightly longer till you can talk properly. We're gonna stay here for the next hour to ensure your all up and ready. The perimeter is secure for now so don't worry about any of the nasties coming to get ya.” The man winked then stood up and walked back to the other two.

  Sure enough, Joseph found he was able to sit up shortly after the chat. He delicately pushed himself up onto his feet once he felt confident and started taking little steps, all the while stretching his jaw out making sound shapes with his mouth. Once he was convinced he wouldn't sound ridiculous he went over to the men to ask some important questions. “Excuse me. Thank you for dropping us off and keeping us safe. Can I ask where we are now.” Joseph asked hopefully. “Sorry mate, can't give you your location right now, orders from higher up. All you need to know is, you're here for a while. So you better start taking inventory.” The man said to him, before turning back to his colleagues to continue their conversation. Joseph was a little taken back by the abruptness of the conversation, however, he simply put it down to these men not being allowed to interact too much, lest they give something away.

  Turning to look around where they were all Jason could see was a vast open plane with wild grass and shrubs dotted around. The sky was ominously grey with rolling clouds billowing down towards the ground. In the distance Joseph could make out a treeline, however, from this distance, it was difficult to tell if there was foliage on any of the trees or it was just a very dense woodland. A few birds flitted about in the sky but other than that there were no signs of animal life around. The rest of Joseph's team were coming to back where he had originally been laying. Some of them were sitting up while others were just opening their eyes, evidently, he had received the injection first or had a stronger reaction to the concoction. Either way, he was up and needed to start helping everyone get organised.

  “Alright, everyone. It looks like we are here, wherever that is and we need to start getting set up. These men will only be here for another 50 minutes or so we need to make sure we have everything together before they leave.” Joseph didn't just talk though, he went straight to his pack and checked everything was there. Survival gear, emergency rations, a small photo of his mother, a little antiquated but it was lighter than the holographic projectors most people used. His clothes and odd bits and pieces were all in the bag as he expected, patting down his trousers he found all of his pockets were still full also. He had everything he had wanted to bring and looking at the environment he could only assume there were somewhere in the temperate region of the planet, maybe Scotland or New Zealand. So much for the contingencies he had planned. It wouldn't be of much use here, but most of what he had would give him a fighting chance. He just hoped everyone had brought something that would actually be useful.

  Half an hour later everyone was up and had reviewed their inventory. The try and speed up the process everyone had decided to empty their bags in a circle on the floor so they could assess everything they had. For the most part, Joseph was satisfied with what everyone had, there were some exceptions, like the person who though bringing nearly 2 kilo's of chocolate and coffee was a good idea, but they can't all be winners right. After having a quick discussion on what everyone felt would be of use as well as what would just slow them down it was decided the coffee would go back on the transport, provided they were allowed to send items back, as the extra weight wouldn't help anyone in the long run. A brief conversation with the escorts confirmed they could leave items on the transport they deemed unnecessary. A few other items were loaded on before everyone was satisfied
with the provisions left and the weight they were carrying. No sooner were they done than the transport was lighting off and leaving them in the middle of the vast plane with nothing but each other and their gear. Turning to face the group Joseph was the first to speak. “So I guess the first order of business is to get started on some sort of shelter. Does everyone concur?” he said to the group at large. There was a general confirmation from the group, nothing overly enthusiastic but it was a consensus none the less. “Right then. There looks to be some wood or a forest over in that direction. I would say our best bet is to head that way and look for materials we can use to construct somewhere dry to sleep, those clouds don't look overly friendly and I for one wouldn't want to get caught out in the middle of a storm here.” That got a slightly more energetic response as everyone quickly grabbed their packs and started in the direction Joseph had indicated. By this point, they were used to drills and moving in time so they kept a good pace travelling towards the trees.

  After an hour they were close enough to see there was dense foliage to the trees, it was a deep dark green, almost black which was why it had been difficult to tell from so far away. They probably had another hour to go before breaking the treeline at the pace they were making. So far this didn't seem too inhospitable of a place to try and survive for a few months. They reached the treeline without incident a little over an hour later. The interior of the woods looked particularly dark due to the thick canopy overhead. There were patches of light every now and then in the darkness and there was room to move through the forest without great difficulty. Heading in first Joseph could hear the wind moving through the branches, some animals scurrying through the undergrowth and birds singing overhead. It was a beautiful scene, one that really spoke of the nature in the world and the wonder of an untouched landscape, he found himself getting lost in it as he made his way deeper into the forest.