Blood on the Horizon
- Chapter 5 -[]
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Just walk in Similator[]
January 21, 3000
{{"Reactor online, sensors online, weapons online,}}" Betty announced, the voice of another human giving me some comfort. {{"All systems nominal."}}
"Alright," I muttered. "Let's see if today is any better than yesterday."
Gently pushing down on the foot pedals, I eased the Warhammer forward and out of the simulated hanger, the giant mech swaying a bit as I struggled to maintain my balance.
"Now, take it easy, Mark. One step at a time," I allowed my natural walking pace to become one with the machine that I was piloting, the gait straightening out with every step I took. "This is kinda fun," I laughed, beginning to experiment with twisting my torso as I moved through the simulated open field.
Shifting my weight, I tried moving to a fast jog, only to nearly lose my balance before throttling back to a walk.
"Okay, no running yet," I let the gyro calibrate again as a warning began to sound.
{{"Warning, incoming missiles,""}}
Betty warned me as a stream of missiles began arcing down onto my mech, the impacts driving me to one knee.
{{"Enemy detected, enemy detected, mech power-up detected,"}} Betty informed me, an image of each mech appearing on the right side of my displays.
"This was supposed to be a basic walking scenario!" I yelled as I tried to stand up while more missiles struck my mech, sending me falling on my back. "Oh shit," I went quiet as a Highlander dropped from the sky onto my mech, the simulator going dark as its feet landed on the cockpit.
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Highlander Assault 'Mech
"What the hell was that?" I asked as I dug into the computer. "Did I select something I shouldn't have?"
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again[]
"Okay, that should have fixed it," I climbed in and suited up again.
I listened to Betty run through the basic phrases again before the hanger appeared.
Moving at a fast walk out, I immediately powered up my sensors to their full range, now paranoid that I wouldn't be able to ease myself into this skill.
"Okay," I smiled as everything seemed to be calm. "I think I fixed it," as the words left my mouth, a silver streak came through and savaged my right PPC.
{{"Critical hit. Weapon destroyed,"}} Betty said into my ear, the disappointment clear.
Twitching, I shifted to the right as streams of blue lightning narrowly missed my torso, another silver streak carving out a scar across the opposite shoulder.
{{"Mech power-up detected,"}} Betty informed me.
"I'm aware!" I said as I scanned for threats I couldn't see on sensors or with the mark-one eyeball.
{{"Warning, incoming missiles!"}} Betty said as I managed to get up on both feet and start running back to the hanger, bits of armor getting chewed off by the few missiles that hit me.
Spinning around, I finally saw one of the mechs, the 90-tonner's Gauss rifle slug hitting my cockpit and causing the simulator to go dark once again.
"I think I'm done for the day," I groaned as I climbed out of the sim. "I'll try again tomorrow."
Drenched in sweat, I headed for the showers and then climbed into a bunk before pulling a sleeping bag up around me. Tomorrow was a new day, I would see what I could change then.
Keeping up ones Strength[]
February 15, 3000
Music blared from my iPhone as I studied the textbooks that I had brought over to the mess hall, a jury-rigged charger keeping the old device powered.
"Alright, so that's how you do that," I muttered as I scribbled away at the equations listed, double and then triple checking my work before verifying my answers were correct.
Then, I stood up and stretched, a satisfying ripple of pops rolling down my spine as I flexed.
Turning my music off, I left my phone on the table while I walked over to the gym area.
Hopping on a treadmill, I began a warm-up walk, my knee protesting at the movement before settling down the longer I walked.
Taking it up a notch, I moved into a jog, pushing myself to up my speed a little bit with every session.
After the run, I held my hands over my head as I gasped for breath, sweat dripping down my armpits as I walked over to the weight racks and picked up the set of dumbells I was using this week.
I had to do more. As long as I had an objective I could keep moving forward.
Mentally, I knew that I was going to break down. I knew that I was staving off the inevitable mental break by not allowing myself to think about what had happened to me.
But I also wanted to live. I can always improve my situation while I'm alive. I cannot do that if I were dead.
And so, I pushed myself to the brink of exhaustion every day that I was in this derelict, collapsing into my bunk every night before waking up and going back into the grind. This was about more than just surviving, if I wanted to live then I had to survive now.
Engagement with the virtual enemy[]
"Okay," I said as I climbed into the simulator. "Let's try to last more than two minutes this time."
As soon as Betty ran through her sequence, I jammed my feet down on the pedals, shifting into a run as the Warhammer underneath me surged, the cooling vest alternating between hot and cold as the reactor spiked in temperature.
Twisting out of a trio of emerald lasers, I fired back with a PPC, a handful of missiles cratering across my torso as a Gauss slug carved a furrow through my SRMs.
Knowing that I was out-ranged, I ran for the trees, the thick boughs offering cover from the missiles that continued to rain down on me from above.
Looking at my seismic sensors, I spun my torso to the right, expecting to see my nemesis in the Highlander only I be met by a King Crab.
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King Crab Assault 'Mech firing it's autocannon
The assault mech seemed to grin as it's twin AC/20s tore my mech to shreds, my mech's shoulder and arm being ripped off by the burst fire weapon as I teetered on the edge of my feet, the gyros groaning as I barely kept on my feet before driving me knee down into the dirt to stabilize myself as I fired everything I had at the deadly Assault mech.
"Dammit," I swore as all but one of my medium lasers went wide, the King Crab taking another step forward and shredding the little armor that I had left before hitting the reactor and causing a shut down.
I sat in the darkness for a moment, thinking about what I had done wrong before a message went across the screen.
"Life is pain, highness. If anyone tries to tell you anything different they're selling something."
"As you wish," I ran my hand across the screen as the text faded away, tears beginning to stream down my face as the weight of the emotions I had been holding back fell square onto my shoulders.
And in the darkness of the void, I wept.