Conscription Day: The Johnson Chronicles Page 4

  After about six minutes, Bull reported the exact numbers to me. Twenty-two men had lost their lives in the crash with another nine badly injured. There were twelve more with minor fractures or lacerations that meant they were out of action. That left me 108 men at most.

  A little later, the hasty mission briefing took place. Things were relatively quiet – with just a groan from a wounded soldier here or there, or an occasional scream of agony –, so I didn’t have to shout much.“Everyone, listen up!” I immediately had the undivided attention of the soldiers. “I know we took a bad hit, and it doesn’t look good. But we have to make the best of the situation. We can still accomplish our mission. I know, I know, that sounds a big ask, but it is possible. Combat Squad Lima is disbanded. Sergeant Zuchkowski will reassign you all. Squads Echo and Juliet will stay here and make this bird airworthy again. Junior Lieutenant Samui Hoi has put a plan together and will be commanding the repair work. Squads Alpha, Delta, and Golf make yourselves ready to march in full battle gear. Munitions will be distributed in five minutes. We still have a surprise up our sleeves.”

  Bull then started reorganizing the units. I helped him to position people according to their skills. We decided to leave most of the new recruits behind to help dig out the battle craft. Unfortunately, we had to do without the doc because the seriously injured needed him too badly. We would have to make do with the paramedics.

  Munitions were then distributed. The combat troops formed up in front of the combat craft. Bull and I stood in front of the open freight hatch, which surprised us when it opened smoothly. The load was in better shape than the crew. Behind us, two soldiers were positioned by several munitions and weapons cases. Two more men were still bringing cases out of the shuttle.

  “Bull, take over,” I said to him, voice low.

  “Sure, captain! - Men! Can I have your attention, please?” Bull yelled. “Everyone gets a new assault rifle, a Rufus 800AC, a modified version of the Rufus 500 that you all know. There is nothing new on the surface or in its operation. You should have no problem using it. There has been one change, however.” Bull raised his right hand, made a fist, and started counting with his thumb.

  “One: it uses a new type of ammo. It doesn’t use physical rounds anymore. The magazine now holds a high energy charge. This is used to produce small pellets of antimatter that are fed into the chamber of the Rufus 800AC. The rate of fire is pretty much the same. However, the pellets are projected at almost 10,000 meters per second. The impact force is huge.” Bull raised his index finger and kept counting. “Second: The mini-antimatter detonations. When you are hit by a pellet, nothing much is left. That should also apply to the enemy. There is a disadvantage, of course. This is still being developed, so it isn’t possible to exactly calibrate the antimatter explosion. That means you shouldn’t get too close. Twenty meters should be far enough. Third,” the middle finger was raised. “Your battle armor contains a signature that will neutralize this ammunition. This will prevent any friendly fire incidents.”

  I was astonished to see Bull now completely uncurl his ring finger without moving his little finger at all. I kept both my hands hidden behind my back and tried to do the same. As always, I couldn’t do it. That’s why I never counted above three.

  “And four: for close combat the Rufus 800AC can take another magazine that also shoots small explosive bullets. They just don’t use antimatter. The detonation is of a much lower power. The magazines are marked with different colors. The blue magazine is the antimatter magazine and the green is the armor-piercing, explosive ammunition. The magazines are coded and can not be inserted incorrectly. Any questions?”

  Bull had hardly asked this before several dozen arms were speedily raised. “I mean questions except why you haven’t been told before how powerful the antimatter explosion is,” several arms were lowered, “which is about twenty meters,” several more arms disappeared, “how safe the anti-friendly-fire-gizmo is …” Only one arm was still in the air. It belonged to number thirteen, one of the few new recruits I had decided to include in the attacking force.

  Bull was about to answer, but I interrupted him.

  “Yes, Private Glouger?” Fin Glouger stared at me. I could still remember his face from before: disbelieving, fearful, and a little confused.

  “You heard right, private. You aren’t a number any more. You have your baptism of fire behind you, and managed to survive it. You have earned your name, and now I hope you have an intelligent question.”

  “Erm … yes … sir. Okay, how would … I mean, how can you switch between different types of ammunition?”

  “That, Private Glouger, happens to be a good question. I’m glad you’ve been paying attention. If you don’t mind, Master Gunnery, I’ll take this one.” Bull nodded to me and couldn’t help flashing a smile. He knew me too well. He knew I wanted to make amends in some way with the kid because I had been so hard on him.

  “It’s automatic, Private Glouger. The assault rifle automatically switches as soon as you go below the safe distance for antimatter shots. You can also use the safety mechanism to prevent the use of antimatter entirely.”

  Private Glouger nodded to me. “Thanks, sir, no more questions, sir.”

  The weapons and ammunition were then quickly distributed, and we were ready to go.

  I had a bad feeling that I couldn’t put my finger on. Sure, we were in a difficult situation and there were few chances of success. So, no change there. But still … you could call it a sixth sense: I could smell problems. Something smelled off. Maybe it was because I was sick of it. I had had enough of this war. I had often thought about throwing in the towel lately. But what would I do then? I had been a soldier my whole life, I didn’t know anything else. My memories of childhood were fading more every day. Soon, nothing would be left. I could live on a remote farmstead and grow stuff? This thought was so absurd that I almost laughed out loud. Imagine the grim old warrior, John James Johnson, shoveling the shit of some animals and sniffing the crops to see if it is time to harvest. No, I have always been a soldier, and would always be a soldier. And besides, I had just signed on again for another ten years.

  “Group Golf, take point. I’m sending the route to your battle armor. You can call it up on your display. Watch your step, but make sure you keep moving. Don’t take any risks. We will be observing complete radio silence. Use a scout if you have to send a message. The other groups will follow at five minute intervals. We will rendezvous at the indicated meeting point. Now go, go go!”

  Group Golf got moving and soon disappeared into the jungle. I followed with Group Delta. Alpha brought up the rear. The two gigs were soon behind us. The jungle was on its best behavior. We didn’t see any dangerous predators and the vegetation didn’t bother us either. Sergeant Hopper was waiting at the meeting point as planned. I had sent a scout ahead to make sure our arrival didn’t surprise them. Sergeant Hopper came over to me. We opened our face plates so we could talk.

  “All clear, captain. The force field is about another hundred and fifty meters away. I have sent a couple of men to find a passage. I just hope there is one nearby and we don’t have to go round the shield. That could take a long time. It’s big.”

  “Good work. Alpha will be here in a minute, they have been making fast progress.”

  Bull – who was in command of the squad – joined us a little later and we didn’t have to wait much longer before the scouts Sergeant Hopper sent returned. There was a passage nearby, not even four hundred meters away. The good news just kept coming, because the passage wasn’t well protected.

  I took Bull and two sharpshooters, and we crept up to within two hundred meters. The jungle provided excellent cover. Then I saw the guard post. There were two lizards. I zoomed in my view of them and immediately noticed how unusual these guard positions were. Their armor was mat, a faded, light gray in color. Their eyes were dull too. The guards were two old warrior
s. At that moment, that didn’t seem so unusual. Maybe they had broken some rule or other and had been put here as punishment. Now I know better. The two were so old, half dead in fact, but too lazy to die. There was no place for them any more in the army of the Sejsossa.

  The two snipers took position, and I gave the order to fire. I had hardly spoken when there were two small explosions. The flash of light was so bright that my visor automatically darkened. I could just make out how the heads of both guards bloomed into red clouds of mist. The two snipers glanced at each other and grinned, one grin wider than the other. I was impressed by the new weapons, too.

  “Holy shit!” Bull gasped. I glanced at him and saw that he was grinning, too, wider even than the grin on the faces of the two shooters. The airlock door opened easily with a code our spies had provided. I didn’t even want to know how they kept getting this kind of information. The important thing was we had the code, and it worked. But I didn’t trust the secret service people. I only trusted them as far as I could throw them. There was another dark tunnel on the other side of the door, not even three paces wide. There were no buildings to be seen on the other side of the force field, so it seemed likely that the tunnel led underground.

  I did not like this at all. The limited width meant we had to go in two at a time, side by side. It was a long way, over eight hundred meters, to the main building at the center of the force field. Even though the soldiers were well spaced out, the tunnel went directly to the main building and all my men would be in it for a while. The enemy could get up to all kinds of things, and we would be sitting ducks. But we didn’t have time to go all the way through the tunnel one group at a time. Besides, nobody knew what was waiting for us at the other end.

  “Bull, I don’t like this at all.”

  “I know. I don’t like it, either. If we get caught down there in the tunnel, it will be a massacre.”

  “That occurred to me, too. Suggestions?”

  Bull thought for a moment. It looked like he was about to say something because he opened his mouth a few times, but then quickly closed it again. “I’m trying, but I can’t come up with anything. How far do we have to go? At least eight hundred meters?”

  “Only if the tunnel doesn’t have any bends in it, but that’s not for sure. There might even be more than one turning, and we might have to double back.”

  “That means we can’t just storm the place.”

  “Looks that way. We could send a recon team with scanners. Maybe we’ll be able to blow a way out of the tunnel onto the surface. Then we can carry on above ground.”

  “Across open ground? There isn’t a blade of grass. That would mean advancing with no cover at all. That doesn’t seem any better than the tunnel.”

  Sending in a drone would take time we didn’t have. And we would have had to unpack one from the ship and bring it with us, and hope the sensors survived the crash without breaking so bad they can’t send any good data, and besides, the probe will only recognize things it knows about. We aren’t dealing with people here. The technology and the psychology of the Sejsossa was as strange as you can get. Unknown data is something that could mean everything or nothing.

  We fell silent again, thinking deeply. All I knew was there was no way I was going to send my men in without making sure that the tunnel wasn’t going to become their tomb.

  “Okay, Bull, we can’t just stand here and wait to get hemorrhoids. We’ll go in with a small squad. You, me, and ten men. Pick some out from your unit. The others will secure the area. A squad will stand ready, in case we need reinforcement.”

  “Okay, boss!” Bull saluted, turned on his heel and disappeared. That’s just how he was. He had his own way of letting me know what he thought of my ideas – which was not much in this case. We slowly entered the tunnel. I was surprised that no automatic lighting went on. The tunnel remained in pitch darkness. Our helmet lamps didn’t reflect from the tunnel walls, so the way ahead was only dimly lit. We were also surprised when the tunnel widened out. It was already ten strides wide. We didn’t see the enemy. Bull took point. He suddenly froze and held his right fist in the air. This was the signal for us to be quiet and stop moving. I was standing at the back of the group and I signaled to one of the soldiers to go back and get the second squad. I had rethought my strategy as I saw how wide the tunnel had become. That’s when it happened. I heard Bull scream a single word, “Down!”

  There was then a huge explosion and a flash of light as bright as the sun. Then there was nothing.

  Prologue II

  IT realized IT was responsible for making a huge mess. Material, dust, and atoms spread at immense speed. IT then realized what IT was supposed to do. IT would have to restore order. By pure force of will, IT collected dust and material, forming planets and moons. But it was still dark and cold. That was when IT had an idea, to provide a source of light and heat, and so IT created suns. Igniting the fusion reaction cost IT just an infinitely short moment of mental activity. With such an endless mass of raw material it would be millions of years before IT was done. Finally the boredom was over, and IT had created all the many galaxies. IT allowed its imagination to run free, and was pleased at the beauty of what IT had created.

  Then it became ever more difficult for IT to complete the task IT had set itself. Not that it had become impossible, but it was no longer as easy as it had been at the start. Creation was taking its toll and IT was losing ever more of its energy. And IT was starting to get bored.

  All attempts at contact had so far failed. Nobody had heard its call, nobody had answered. Could it be that IT was unique? Was IT all alone?

  IT was not happy about this situation, at all. So IT sought out a star system, completely at random. IT was excited to see what had become of its creation, how the planets had evolved. Wherever IT had thought things were promising, IT created life. This wasn’t so easy, however. It took a huge toll, and IT lost ever more energy. But it always managed to create life. For one of the planets this was just a single cell, while others were completely covered in vegetation.

  Now IT needed to rest to replenish its energy. IT slept for many eons, until a thought reached IT.

  IT immediately awoke and tried to work out where the thought had come from. Its journey took it to the edge of a galaxy, to a small star system with a beautiful, blue planet. The life IT found there was very simple, but it was intelligent. So IT decided to encourage and guide this life, so that it could flourish. IT watched this species for many thousands of years and named them humanity! The time had come to make contact. IT wanted finally to converse, to speak about the beauty of the universe, and to bring the humans into the universe. Then other thoughts reached IT from the distance. That could only mean that other life forms had developed to become intelligent and feeling species. The old curiosity overcame IT, it moved away to find the new place and to investigate it. But, on the way, other thoughts and feelings were already reaching it. IT had found another calling. IT had to protect life at all costs, and nurture it. But even moving required ever more energy. IT forgot about humanity. They didn’t need IT, as they developed in their own unique way and became ever more advanced.

  But they also went to war against each other. The cries of agony and unspeakable horror eventually brought IT back to the system where humanity was located. What IT saw when it arrived was almost more than IT could take. How could its children be doing this to each other? How could they be so thoughtless with the gift of life? IT searched their thoughts and was frightened almost to death. Many people believed that a god had instructed them to do this. A god, an omnipotent being that could do anything. The people were very different, they didn’t all call this mysterious god by the same name, but many of them claimed to be able to speak to this god. The god had told them to kill anyone who called the god by a different name.

  IT couldn’t understand this. Why would a god do something like this? Why didn’t they all
just use his real name? It didn’t make any sense. This god even claimed to have created humanity. This was obviously ridiculous. IT had created humanity, along with all the other life in the universe. IT knew what IT had to do. IT had to find this god, talk to him, and IT might even need to tell him to stop. IT traveled back out into the universe to find this mysterious god with all the different names, because he was nowhere to be found within the solar system.

  Journey Home

  Approximately 4 weeks earlier

  Year: 1023

  System: Unknown

  Location: Secret base

  When I woke up the first time, I was only dimly aware of my surroundings. When I woke up the second time, it was just the same as the first.

  I kept waking up, the time between each period of consciousness shorter and shorter, and the time I was awake ever longer. It was a process initiated on purpose to bring the subject slowly back to reality. Complete consciousness was not far away now. I only slowly realized where I was: in a meditank. I must have taken a bad hit. I found it difficult to forget things, thanks to my cybernetic augmentation, and that included an exact recall of the last few seconds. There was an explosion. My god! What had caused it, and how did I get here? Did anyone make it besides me? Unfortunately, I had no influence on the healing process in the meditank, so all I could do was wait until I was taken out.

  The day eventually came. I had no idea how long I had been in the tank, I couldn’t even guess at it. The short periods of consciousness made it impossible to work out how much time was passing. That’s why I couldn’t even tell if I had been in there for a couple of days, weeks, or even months.

  Being brought round this time was no different to any other. It wasn’t my first time in a meditank. The nutrients with the nanites were drained and I stood naked in the tank. The special flow therapy for the muscles and the effects of the nanites had left me in peak condition. But something was different, out of the ordinary. I could only hear dull noises from outside the tank, and I couldn’t see out because of the remains of the nutrients on the inner surfaces. My implants should have easily been able to compensate for these obstacles. But they didn’t. I couldn’t recognize the person waiting for me on the other side.