《The Ville》 State of Decay... The elevator ride to the top floor of the capitol building, where Mayor Hendricks tended to his office affairs, took approximately thirty minutes. To accommodate the wait, seats, and snacks and water dispensaries were provided within the unit. Superior Orion Yates took advantage of both amenities during the ride. He was only accompanied by a few other passengers, most likely employees, and thankfully, they did not try to spark up a conversation with him. Orion disliked mingling with civilians. The typical sports and interstellar politics that were commonly brought up, annoyed and turned him off socially. Coincidentally, a game of Panelball was on the screen just above the elevator doors. Panelball, or more commonly referred to as P-ball, was the daughter sport of traditional basketball. Only, in Panelball, there was an extra hoop in the center of the court, erected eight feet into the air by a thin rubber pole. Surrounding the court were invisible panels that would light up different colors at random for a limited amount of time. If a player managed to rebound the ball off of one of these glowing panels and into the center hoop, they would score and get a score multiplier based on the color of the panel that was hit by the ball. Orion was not interested in watching sports, though he found his eyes observing the men running around the court throwing a ball at an invisible wall that would light up occasionally, with an absent mind that almost unwillingly stuck to the screen. Orion eventually snapped himself out of it and moved his eyes over to the timer and current floor reading below the screen. Still Twenty minutes left. The other passengers were quietly indulged in their handheld screens except for one woman who was standing directly in front of the doors. She held a cup of some steamy beverage in her hand and a parcel in the other. Orion could tell by her stiffness and unwavering composure while standing there despite knowing the length of the ride, that she was not entirely human, if at all. He could see in the reflection of the doors that she did blink occasionally, but other than that, virtually no other movements could be detected. Orion passively concluded that she may be a bio-mechanical artificial intelligence person (BMAIP), a common sight within government buildings such as this one. Orion found himself trying with great difficulty to keep his mind from wandering into itself, and he dare not close his eyes for too long. His last rescue mission was a critical failure. On top of that, the life of one of his closest squad members was lost, and in one of the most gruesome of ways that he had the misfortune of witnessing with his own eyes. Nepatunio, or Nep, as they called him for simplicity reasons, had been captured within a teflon fibronic box trap; a contraption that sealed itself, then slowly decreased in size once it was activated by a certain weight placed inside of it. Nep was six foot five and nearly three hundred pounds. The box had shrunk to about the size of an ice chest with zero resistance to the mass it contained. Orion had fell to his knees that day, unable to speak let alone scream out in terror at the fate of his friend. He could remember hearing the breaking of tree branches and the grind of stones, only there were no trees or moving stones nearby and it took Orion a minute to realize the sounds were coming from inside the box trap. When the locals of the area had deactivated the box, allowing it to expand back to it¡¯s original size and open the chamber door, the air was filled with screams of terror from both men and women and all Orion could do was look away and barely contain a rage filled scream of his own. The tragic event and subsequent events for the duration of the mission, continued to intrude his mind. He even tried to return his attention back to the game of panelball, but it seemed that once his mind had allowed those thought pulses to the front of his thinking priority, the stronger in persistence they became and harder it was for him to push them to the back of his mind. He considered heading to a psyon, a psychological surgeon or mind surgeon, and have the intruding thought pulses surgically erased, though, this did come with a risk of permanent amnesia or memory loss in other unwanted areas. An alternative was having them extracted, completely removed from his mind. However, the thoughts could, and will most likely be saved to a cloud and sold. Orion would rather destroy those thoughts, and now that he thinks of it, there are plenty of thoughts and memories he¡¯d like destroyed. When the elevator came to a halt and the doors slid open, the other two passengers got up and exited except for Orion and the BMAIP, who stood there unmoving with her cup in her hand and her head now looking up at the screen as the doors closed and the elevator continued its ascension, with five minutes left until the very top floor. An invisible weight in the air had been lifted once the other two passengers left the elevator and Orion found it easier to clear his mind for a few moments until the elevator started to slow down again. Once the smooth moving machine came to a halt on the last floor, and the doors slid open without a sound, the BMAIP struts out stiffly, heading straight down the faintly, neon lit corridor. Orion tailed her all the way to the doors on the right wall of the corridor of which she turned to face and without ever once glancing behind her at Orion as he caught up to her. The doors slid open after a short moment of video verification and the BMAIP strut into the office of Mayor Hendricks, Orion entering not long after her. Orion couldn¡¯t see the mayor behind the thick cloud of black vapor that had spewed from his mouth the moment Orion walked in, but Orion knew that once the vapor cloud had cleared, a dark man with a brick built structure of a face would be revealed. The BMAIP set the cup and parcel down on the desk in front of Mayor Hendricks as Orion made his way to be seated, and sure enough, by the time he had taken his seat, the cloud of black vapor had dissipated and Mayor Hendricks¡¯ busy, black eyes gazed back at him. ¡°Nice to see you again, Superior Yates.¡± Hendricks¡¯ voice was like listening to the soothing rumble of a brand new muscle type engine of a Ford Celeston. ¡°Likewise, Mayor.¡± Orion responds with a slight nod of his head. Hendricks takes a sip from the cup that the BMAIP had set in front of him and grunts in satisfaction. ¡°You might think I called you in here with another simple and easy search and rescue mission¡±, Hendricks begins, ¡°but I assure you, this one will be far from simple. I assume you¡¯d enjoy a challenge.¡± Orion was once again forced to think of his former squad member, Nepatunio. The bloody image of Nep, crushed into more than a third of his size, flashed once more in his head. He wanted to cuss at Hendricks for making the assumption that this line of work was some kind of game and that he lusted for an increase in difficulty, even at the expense of his squad members lives. But Hendricks, who only ever saw the matters of state propositions, the passing of state laws and communal affairs, didn¡¯t know any better. ¡°No mayor¡±, Orion finally says, ¡°as a search and rescue operative, the lesser the challenge and easier the rescue of someones life, the better. That being said, I will accept any challenge if it means that I have a chance at saving someones life.¡± ¡°Of course¡±, Hendricks gazes at Orion admirably then blows out another huge black cloud of vapor before continuing, ¡°there are plenty of lives to save on this mission, twelve to be exact. They are all law officials ranking from experior to superior, and they are all scattered across a dead city located four hours north of here.¡± ¡°A dead city?¡± Orion asks with a raised eyebrow. The term had never entered either of his ear canals in his life. ¡°You know, like a¡­ghost town. It¡¯s economically inoperable. Dead.¡± Hendricks tried his best to explain what he considered common knowledge to a younger man who, like other young men of his age, only witnessed thriving cities of satiable populations and very little, if any, visual contact with poverty and famine.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Anyway¡±, Hendricks continued, ¡°the place is a shithole, basically. It was run down by the scum and corruption that plagued its once thriving streets. The corruption led to gang violence growing out of control, drug use and addiction at an unprecedented high- no pun intended- and this led to most of the companies and business owners leaving and or going out of business. A good portion of law officials who refused to succumb relocated and the remaining were left to fend for their lives in an attempt to protect any innocent civilians that remained in the city. Ones that couldn¡¯t leave. Needless to say that eventually most of the remaining law enforcement officers had perished, and rapidly, according to the brain map activity recording timelapse. ¡°A force that was once five thousand men and women strong, is now twelve. According to the timelapse, at first it seemed that law enforcement had successfully eliminated hostile threats all around the city as brain maps that were determined hostile, dwindled into nothing. All threats seemed to be eliminated. But then the brain maps of our law officials darkened as well. They seemed to just be dying for no explainable reason.¡± ¡°What about the cloud?¡± Orion asks, ¡°I¡¯m sure some Highperiors were able to dissect the moments before death from the officials to see what happened.¡± ¡°I did manage to get into contact with some Highperiors over at the cloud, and all they gave me was this single memory still ¡± Hendricks taps his finger on the desk which functioned as large touch screen when activated to do so. The mayor slides a digital document across the screen towards Orion, who leans forward in his chair. The image was slightly blurred but not due to image quality, but rather, the movement of the subject from the perspective of the victim. Upon closer examination, Orion could make out that he was looking at someones face, barely made out from the total blackness behind it, however, the features of this person appeared drastically off. They did not appear to be human or at least any human that he¡¯s ever seen. It was a three quarters side angle and the subject seemed to be in mid sprint towards the right of the victim. It was difficult to tell due to how dark the overall image was, but it seemed that the persons right arm was outstretched and a flash of light concealed his hand. Orion quickly determined that the unknown person was aiming and firing a handgun while running, and that the light at his hand was muzzle flash. Upon closer study of the face, the bone structure was morbidly protuberant through the mud colored skin that hung loosely under the eyes. The eye sockets were prominently visible and folds of skin bagged under his eye holes which contained beads of glowing, light brown and hints of green irises. The rear of his mandible, where both sides connected just under the cheek bones, were positioned and elongated down much lower than normal. The back of his skull slightly protruded outward and sagged over the back of his neck. Orion described him in his head as sculpted jaggedly out of clay. The sight of this mysterious persons head was just an irregular shape that deeply unsettled Orion, but what drew him to the conclusion that the person- or creature- in the image was of true malicious nature, was the delighted and joyful smile carved into his harrowing sculpture of a face. ¡°This horrific, seemingly disfigured person¡±, Hendricks says, feeling that Orions study of the memory image was long enough, "was the last sight of this particular law official before he was murdered.¡± ¡°And we have no idea who this person in the image may be?¡± Orion asks. ¡°Not a damn clue.¡± Hendricks takes a break from his thermal vape with a sip from his cup. The BMAIP was standing so still by the wall that Orion forgot she was even there until she decided to fold her hands in front of her stomach. ¡°My last contact¡±, Hendricks starts again, ¡°was Sheriff Clackamans. He was the head of the enforcement in the city and last I spoke with him he had pledged that before he fell to any kind of corruption, he¡¯d shoot himself in the head.¡± ¡°What ultimately became of him?¡± Orion asks, still examining the image. ¡°I don¡¯t know. His brain map is still detectable. Apparently, he¡¯s still alive. We just can¡¯t get into contact with him anymore. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s out there that they¡¯re dealing with, but whatever it is I am confident that you and your team will get to the bottom of it and bring our honorable law officials back home alive.¡± Hendricks touches the screen and the memory still retracted back into a digital folder. He then pulls up and slides another digital document across the desk with his finger. The digital document impressively mimicked the movement of what would¡¯ve been a piece of paper sliding across the table hundreds of years ago. Orion spread his pointer and thumb over the screen, expanding the document so he could read it and examine the details better. At the top of the document was the general information of the location. The largest letters read: THE VILLE project. Under the title was a basic map outline of the city and below that was an image of the same map, only dark and dotted with small, hexagonal shapes. This was a screen image of a brain map activity scanning. The orange, hexagonal shapes were the brain maps of the law officials. Brain maps were the preferred alternative to fingerprint identification. They were much more accurate and couldn¡¯t be burned off like fingerprints could. This eliminated non record having criminals flying under the radar with phantom identities. Even if a brain map was not scanned in upon birth, special satellites were able to scan the earth and retrieve any formerly unidentified brain maps by detecting the unique brainwaves. Human surveillance was at its peak with the introduction of the brain map cloud, disallowing anyone from escaping sight or flying under the radar unless actual death occurred. Once a brain map was uploaded to the cloud, it could, and often times was, dissected and reviewed by Highperior officials concerning its content such as memories and recurring thoughts. The Highperiors have assured the public in the past that only criminals and persons of interest would be subject to brain map dissection for possible leads on crimes, but the public knew that was a lie, at least to a great extent. Advertisements for products and other desirables based on what a person had thought of recently, began to present themselves sneakily to an unknowing citizen who would usually dismiss it as coincidence. However, once it became the norm, that was obviously no longer the case. Orion was born with his brain map uploaded to the cloud, and thus, he knew not the importance of what was once a sacred sanctuary of the mind that no one else was allowed within. ¡°Why did it take so long to realize that these brain maps were still active after the city fell?¡± Orion asks after a brief moment of silence. ¡°Remember when I said my last contact was the sheriff?¡± Hendricks says, ¡°he was the one who tried to contact the capitol before me. For whatever reason, they tucked his message into the back of the file cabinet. I guess he finally got tired of waiting and decided he was going to contact me directly and I had no idea the severity of the situation. I thought everyone had left after Highperiors informed me that they abandoned support for the city. So I ordered a brain map scanning of the city and sure enough, not only was sheriff Clackamans still there, but so were other law officials. I sent a message back asking why he¡¯s still there and what¡¯s his situation look like, and that was that. No reply yet.¡± Hendricks blew more vapor out of his face. ¡°He must be living off of some kind of stored rations or something. That last message was over two weeks ago and his attempt to contact Highperiors of the capitol was a month before that.¡± ¡°So either we¡¯re running out of time or it¡¯s already too late.¡± Orion says as he places his handheld screen over the document on the desk and touches a button on the screen. The document was instantly downloaded to his device for later reference. ¡°I¡¯ve been keeping an eye on the brain map activity of the city¡±, Hendricks assures, ¡°the sheriff and the others are miraculously still alive as of this morning. They seem to be in fixed positions spread out all over the place. I¡¯ll keep you¡¯re map log updated hourly so should any changes occur, you¡¯ll know as soon as possible.¡± ¡°Sounds good¡±, Orion gets up from his seat. ¡°I¡¯m just confused as to why this matter wasn¡¯t placed in file of urgency.¡± ¡°My guess is as good as yours,¡± Hendricks gets up from his seat as well. ¡°I urge you to be extremely cautious of your surroundings once inside the city of darkness, superior. Three thousand law officials were killed in a place where no other brain maps or brainwaves are detected. Not even small animals.¡± Hendricks finished that last part of his sentence gravely and reaches out his large hand. Orion grasps Hendricks¡¯ hand firmly, and though, he could sense the mayors concern for he and his team, it was also warmly accompanied by confidence in their experience and capabilities. Orion left the office and took the half an hour elevator ride back down the one thousand flights to regroup with his expert exclusive team that were waiting below. This would be his first rescue mission since the last and first failed mission, and since his start in the Search and Rescue division of Intra-Earth Operations, Orion Yates has never felt so uncertain. Gold Code Chapter 2 Gold Code ¡°The DNA strand of a neopromiscere humanus was described by scientists as being coated in gold.¡± - Documentary voice of Charles Adams, year 2371. Valley Instance Productions. Ismeraldo Veandez is a Neopromiscere Humanus, basically meaning new human and the term had categorized the growing number of what was once considered extraordinarily unusual and unprecedented skin tone and eye color combinations. Scientist saw a significant increase in the birth of these new skin tones and new distinct eye color that was never seen before by three hundred percent in specific areas of America by the year twenty-three hundred. Upon further study, it was discovered that Neo humans were born physically and athletically significant, as they called it, andhad a twenty percent faster learning slope than average after birth. It is rumored that scientists had discovered that the DNA strand of a neo-human was a gold-ish color, hence the nickname, ¡°golden coated¡±. As Veandez walked into the capitol building, dressed in his formal attire that indicated his status as a government established member of the search and rescue division, or SAR, he was not expecting such a relaxed and almost silent lower floor despite at least over a hundred formal civilians walking to and fro. He had no idea where to even begin in this massive building. Fortunately, from the directions received by his superiors, he was to meet his new squad on the first floor of this thousand floor building. ¡°Golden boy!¡± a mans heavy voice called in his direction. A muscular, coffee bean colored man wearing full combat uniform, had his hand in the air and was staring directly at him. Veandez walked cautiously over to the area that he could now see was occupied by other SAR formal and combat uniforms and all of them were staring at him, watching him approach which made his gait feel off balance. The muscular one who waved him down got up from his stool at the bar and immediately placed his heavy hand on Ismeraldo¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Can¡¯t believe they stuck a golden boy in our squad¡±, Heberus says with a partly genuine smile. Maar Sativo and some other SAR uniforms sat on the couch nearby and they were all eyeing the golden boy. ¡°I heard you golden boys are big business in almost everything except where it counts¡±, Heberus grabs his own crotch and the other SAR¡¯s laugh. Ismeraldo stands up straight and moves himself to stand directly face to face with Heberus, staring up deeply into Heberus¡¯ eyes who were at least six inches above his own. ¡°Sounds like someone is threatened in the presence of a golden boy. Typical and predictable that a common skin such as yourself¡±, Ismeraldo says, ¡°feels the need to reduce himself to body shaming in front of everybody because he has reminded himself that he may be inferior in every other possible way besides his dick, exposing his own self sense of inferiority and insecurity in the presence of a golden boy. I suggest you fall back, stage three experior, before you force yourself to stoop down another level in a vain and pathetic attempt to kick me beneath you.¡± ¡°I was just fucking with you, goldie.¡± Heberus says casually, but Ismeraldo wasn¡¯t falling for it. That statement was only half true. He had every intention of offending and getting under Ismeraldo¡¯s skin with the hopes of future hostility between them, because, possibly in a sub conscious sense, Heberus did not want to be friendly with the golden coated man due to underlying prejudices as well as the aforementioned statements that Ismeraldo had made. ¡°Sure you were.¡± Ismeraldo replies sarcastically, almost before Heberus had even finished his sentence. Heberus gazed back into the dauntless eyes of a stage two SAR and didn¡¯t give reply. Instead, he slaps his heavy hand on Ismeraldo¡¯s back and says, ¡°Welcome to the squad, golden boy¡±, then returned to his stool at the bar counter, barely containing his aggression and prejudice for the golden coated man.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Ismeraldo watched him return to his drink for a moment then looked around for a seating of his own, all the while, the other SAR squad members went about not looking him in the eye and returned to either their handheld screens or their own conversation as if the interaction that occurred before them hadn¡¯t even happened. Ismeraldo walks over to a chest high table and takes a seat across from another SAR combat uniform. Anarissa Tecrovoya stared down at a screen, her silky brown hair dangled passed her shoulders. Once Ismeraldo sat down, her light brown eyes glide up at him. The golden coated man in front of her struck her with an unwilling admiration. His distinct pale green eyes, light caramel colored skin, and wavy, dark brown hair that was tinted with a natural hint of magenta, struck her with a sense of awe. It was like observing an exotic animal outside of its natural habitat. Surprisingly, she realized that this is probably the closest she has ever been to a neo-human. A waitress walks up to the table and greets Ismeraldo. ¡°Hello¡±, she says in a squeaky but professionally robotic voice, ¡°would you like a drink?¡± ¡°Sure¡±, Ismeraldo was still a bit tense and it was heard in his own voice. ¡°What do you got?¡± ¡°Right now we¡¯re serving our exclusive super tea.¡± ¡°What flavors?¡± Ismeraldo asks, never before hearing of such a drink. ¡°We only have two at the moment. Blueberry and dragonfruit.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take blueberry¡±, Ismeraldo says. ¡°What does it do?¡± ¡°Our beverages are non intoxicating, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re wondering. They are meant to naturally boost energy levels and mental clarity utilizing super food ingredients.¡± ¡°That sounds good. Thank you.¡± The BMAIP waitress walked away with a smile. Ismeraldo turns his attention to Anarissa who was puffing clouds of pink vapor from the thermal vape wrapped around her pointer finger. ¡°Didn¡¯t know we were allowed to do that in here.¡± Ismeraldo says as he pulls out his vape device and sticks it into the side of his mouth in the fashion that one would bite a carrot. ¡°You¡¯re not.¡± Anarissa replies. Ismeraldo nods his head as he peered deep at her and a wave of violet colored vapor spewed from the slit in his mouth and his nostrils. Not even ten minutes inside of the capitol building and he had already nearly escalated a confrontation and was now breaking the rules. ¡°Let me guess¡±, Anarissa leans onto the table, ¡°you¡¯re interhuman?¡± ¡°No, I actually don¡¯t give a shit.¡± Ismeraldo replies with a sigh, not shifting his positioned, peering gaze on her. Finally, the waitress returned with Ismeraldo¡¯s drink. It came in a tall, glowing glass and a small bowl of blueberries. ¡°Our search and rescue division recieve an extra bowl of blueberries at no cost.¡± The waitress says.Ismeraldo nods and thanks her. ¡°You probably don¡¯t give a shit, but I stand on earthbound. Always have and always will.¡± Anarissa smiles. Earthbound was the political stance of one who cherished human and earth born life above all. To her and others on this political spectrum, growth as a species on earth was still a work in progress, there was still plenty of kinks in society and cultural norms that needed to be worked out despite generations of re-brainwashing, reprogramming and toxic personality and behavior cleansing. Earthbounds have mentally evolved to grasp the ideazation that the human, in its purest form, was all that mattered. Not societal status, not ethnicity, not reputation, not political views, not material possessions, just the simple fact that you were gifted to be a human being. Nothing more and nothing less. This is of course in contrast to the interhuman and interstellar stance, that humans have reached the zenith of their evolution both physically and mentally, and that exploration of the stars was their next objective to discover any possibilities of further enhancement. This included and came with the expectation that discovering new life forms would introduce humans to these possibilities. In return, humans would assist in any interhuman endeavors, amiably. Anarissa usually kept such politics to herself especially around Orion because she knew he didn¡¯t like hearing it. But she wanted to see if the subject triggered Ismeraldo, which it apparently didn¡¯t even though he hadn¡¯t much to say on the matter. Much to her interest. Ismeraldo half smiled and pushed a burst of air out of his nose. Anarissa put her pointer finger to her lips in the old smoking gun image gesture and a pink light on the encasement around her finger lit up. A second or two later, a waterfall of pink vapor spilled out of her lips, her eyes observing Ismeraldo with a hardly contained intrigue that was just above the thin ice that separated it and infatuation. She could sense that Ismeraldo was still tense despite his efforts to appear relaxed. ¡°I believe¡±, Anarissa continues, ¡°that exploration of the cosmos is cool and all, but the matters and lives of other beings not from Earth should be left alone. There¡¯s no reason to get involved in things we can barely understand or even comprehend, let alone try to fix or solve their problems.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± Ismeraldo nods his head in agreement. He admired and respected her stance but kept his word on the matter all together to himself as to not promote the conversation further without blatantly changing the subject in her face. An act he deemed disrespectful. Anarissa thought hard about what she wanted to ask the golden coated man. There was so much she wanted to know about him already but ultimately thought it best to leave his mysterious nature and history under the blanket for now. Perhaps a converstation for after the mission, she considers. SAR Squad: 701 After what seemed like an entire day had passed, Orion finally struts into the first level bar and lounge where his squad patiently awaited his return. He was able to quickly pinpoint every face that made up squad 701 or so he thought. Heberus Arbon sat at the bar counter sipping a beverage and scrolling around on his screen, having already somewhat moved on from his confrontation with Ismeraldo. Maar Sativo sat at a couch cluster with some other SAR members dressed in their formals and conversed. Finally, Anarissa Tecrovoya was sitting at a high table talking with a neo-human man he has never seen before. Orion brings himself to a stop beside the couch that Maar was slouching in. When Maar notices Orion standing over him, he rises from his seated position. The SAR operatives who were dressed in their formals sprang up from their seats and saluted Orion, an action that quickly grabbed his attention but garnered an unstartling and collected turn in their direction. "Superior Yates! Bezier Luke, stage three experior!" Bezier Luke was the first to stand and salute by a millisecond. He was a brawny young man with light brown hair and a red beard. He was the shortest of the two others standing beside him who also held their hand to their temples and echoed one after the other Orion''s title before giving their names and stage rank. "Equaida Pearce! Stage three experior!" Equaida was of a light, mud color tone with bright, light brown eyes and dark, wavy hair pulled into a single braid behind her head. "Peluto Haime! Stage Three Experior!" Peluto was the last to announce himself but he was the tallest, with fair skin and muddy hair. He also appeared to be the youngest of the three. Orion looked a bit confused as to why these operatives were announcing themselves to him. "Nice to meet you all." Orion replies respectively. The three dropped their hands to their sides but remained standing. Maar read the confusion on Orions face. "Highperiors up there didn''t tell you? They assigned us five additional members for this mission." Maar explains. "No, they didn''t tell me that", Orion replies, slightly annoyed of the fact. "Where''s the other two?" "Ones over in that lounge corner¡­" Maar nods his head over at a darkened, unlit corner of the lounge where a dark haired woman sat still and patiently on her own in an orbital chair in front of a private television screen. Orion could tell from from his position that she was a BMAIP, just by how still she sat there. "¡­and the other guys'' over there." Maar nods his head over at the high table where Ismeraldo and Anarissa sat. "Didn''t even fuckin consult with me about this?" Orion looks over at Anarissa. "They didn''t tell me shit. These foo''s just came up to me and said they were sent by Highperiors and were looking for Squad 701 and Superior Yates." Maar says. Orion casually heads over to the high table and plants his left forearm on the end of it, peering at Ismeraldo. "Were you assigned to squad seven oh one?" Orion asks calmly. "Yes I was." Ismeraldo replies. "Orion Yates, squad superior." Orion announces. Ismeraldo puts his hand to his temple. "Ismeraldo Veandez, stage two." Orion nods his head slowly as he peered at him with cold eyes. "Are you ready?" Orion asks. "Of course. I''m always ready." Ismeraldo replies.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "You don''t look fuckin ready." Orion says, throwing Ismeraldo and Anarissa off guard. "You''re not even in your combat attire." Ismeraldo is left speechless at being put on the spot. "As a matter of fact!" Orion turns around, his voice commanding the entire lounge area into silence. "Nobody looks fuckin ready to go!" The entire lounge area stopped and it became dead silent, staring at him as he yelled his lungs out. "What the fuck are you looking at!? Why is almost everybody still in their goddamn formals!?" Orion booms. Heberus and Maar look around at his squad, glad that they decided to walk in combat ready, even if it made him look out of place in the capitol building. Peluto stands up. "Our apologies, Superior Yates. We were ill informed the details of the mission and of its urgent departure." Peluto says. "They didn''t tell you the details of the mission?" Orion lowered his voice asks calmly as if he was truly wondering why. "They didn''t tell you, a professional search and rescue operative, that this was a search and rescue mission and that you''re expected to be ready at the drop of a fuckin ballsack for a time sensitive, muthufuckin rescue mission!?" Orion appeared to have lost total control of his temper and mind. Anarissa had never seen him in such a state of explosiveness. "Orion?" Anarissa says calmly. "You need to relax. It''s okay." Peluto and the rest kept their faces straight. Maar kept his head into his screen and Heberus sips his beverage and put his attention to the countertop. "You all have approximately ten minutes to be in combat attire and ready to go." Peluto, Equaida, and Bezier all spring up at the same time. "Yes, superior!" They then grab their packs and hurry to a designated wash room. Ismeraldo grabs his pack and does the same. Anarissa sips her beverage awkwardly. The lounge area had returned to normal. Orion turns his attention to the BMAIP over at the private viewing cubicle. She was quietly indulged in some television program. He makes his way over to her and taps the nearly invisible wall. The panel lit up a faint color. Casandra touches a button on the seat then gets up. She walks over to Orion, seemingly walking through an invisible wall. "Hello Superior Yates. My name is Casandra." She says. "Yes, I am prepared to go as soon as you are." Orion nods his head, and without another word, makes his way back passed the couch cluster and to the bar counter beside Heberus. "Dragonfruit super tea, medium." Orion says. The waiter nods then immediately begins making the drink. Orion stares off passed the counter and the BMAIP''s walking back and forth with drinks and empty glasses as his mind wandered back into the last mission. It was he, Heberus, Anarissa, Maar and Nepatunio on the tracks of a moving subject on foot. They were informed of this particular kidnappers tendency to set traps but were not informed of what kind. They had no idea what to expect. Heberus, Maar and Anarissa had sidestepped an alternate route with hopes to cut the kidnapper off, while Orion and Nep stayed directly behind his track. The kidnapper, with the subject, had fled into a sandstone cluster of buildings, a trade center in the middle of the Mohave desert. Orion and Nep tailed him to an alley where he seemingly disappeared. They continued onwards, keeping a close eye out. Even some locals of the trade center followed the two as they chased them.They emerge into a wider but much less dense street but there was no sign of the kidnapper. They continued on cautiously, but still, unseen, hidden under a thin layer of sand was the Teflon Fibronic Box trap, all five sides flattened out. Once Nep stepped onto the platform, his weight activated it, and all four sides boxed him in, the top flapping closed above him last. Orion kicked at the box but it was no use, and the locals who were with them knew this as well as they pulled him away from it and assured him that it was no use. The box was not going to stop compacting until set dimensions were reached before it returned back to its original size. The kidnapper also managed to escape capture with the subject. A week had passed and the brain map blip of the subject had vanished. Highperiors of the SAR division declared her dead and that was that. The kidnapper was never found and is presumed dead as his brain map reading also vanished shortly after. It was Squad 701''s first failed mission. The failure punched a hole in Orion''s confidence, a hole that he was determined to close for good by not losing another squad members life while under his leadership. This task was now much more uncertain with the new and unexpected additions to his squad. Stage 3 experiors that, in his mind, put him in the place of a trainer all over again. The nature of this mission was already uncertain and Orion felt his hopes for a successful one fall deeper into the hole of uncertainty. A notification alerted him on his wrist, the ten minutes was up. Orion looked over his shoulder to see the stage 3 experiors, the golden boy, and the BMAIP approaching the couch cluster in full combat apparel. Maar could sense the fear in their faces that they struggled to keep hidden. Orion had shook them. A bad thing considering that they will now fear making any mistakes in the presence of their superior, and thus, will surely make mistakes. Orion and Heberus get up from the counter, Orion leading the way to the exit of the building without a word to his squad. He was saving it for the ride. A Hit of Death Sebilla Clackamans was the daughter of a well renowned law official that commanded a quarter of the law enforcement precinct in the city of Centreville. Because of that, even though he was almost always three and a half hours away, Sebilla usually wouldn''t be caught dead using any illegal drug. But living on a campus college came with plenty of stresses and one of those stresses was pressure. She had never been pressured by Yudenia, her best friend since middle school, but for some reason Yudenia Sol was having a change of heart. She was no longer the innocent, sweet, petite young girl that Sebbie grew up with, had sleepovers with, and played little league, retro softball and volleyball with. They both attended East Capitol University with intentions to earn their bachelors in Psyonic Sciences. Yudenia wanted to try new things and part of this new desire was due to Eren Truste, a first year term attendant in Interhuman Studies. Eren was also fascinated by the science of the mind and perception alteration and wanted nothing more than to study the effects of outer world substances of Interhuman species on his own human mind. It didn''t take him long to convince Yudenia that her field of study would possibly require her to be familiar with altering substances as psyonic''s dealt with the unseen power of the inner mind. Yudenia was sold more so by infatuation with Eren, a dashingly handsome young man with striking, natural pink eyes due to only a sliver of his DNA strand coated with gold, than the actual desire for using any of the drugs that included newly introduced substances from interstellar sources. Due to his unkempt interest in "perception altering substances", Eren was crowdedly connected with the local dealers, able to acquire virtually any street or white collar drug with ease. Sebilla wasn''t too fond of this new exploration that Eren was driving her friend into. She felt like her and Yudenia were already drifting apart, and she could feel an increasingly stagnant presence of a stranger growing within her only friend as the days went on and as Yudenia and Eren grew closer. While alone in her dorm, after catching up on all her assignments and studies, Sebilla layed on her bed, played some music through "psyonic play-listing", a method of listening to music without the use of earbuds or the disturbance of those around her, and pondered the difficult decision to make. The decision to either venture into this mind altering journey with her best friend out of fear of losing her, or simply parting ways. Her decision was now to be put on the spot as Yudenia and Eren walk into the dorm room. They were in high spirits it seemed and they brought with them a fruity, bakery aroma that instantly stuffed Sebilla''s nostrils and forced her eyes open from her musical meditation. Sebilla touches a button on her wrist and the music in her head faded out. Her attention was now on Yudenia and Eren. "Wassup girl?" Yudenia says in her forced street accent. "We didn''t wake you up, right?" "No," Sebbie sits up on her bed, "just laying here thinking about shit. All caught up on my studies so I''m bored as fuck." Eren jumped onto her statement of boredom immediately. He knew Sebbie was not inclined to try any of the drugs that Yudenia has already tried with him based on her passed rejections of their offers, but he felt he could take advantage of her boredom and maybe bring her around. "I know you ain''t a fan of doing drugs", Eren says, "but aren''t you always saying how we only live once on this planet? Why not give something amazing a try?" Sebbie couldn''t help but agree with what he said and despite her inner voice telling her not to, another voice accumulated into her mind, summoned by Eren, and telling her that he was right. What else did she have to do? And if she was being honest with herself, she was curious about the effects something from outer space would have on her mind. Who knows, it could open her mind and change her perception of the universe forever. Suddenly, she kicked herself for considering breaking it off with Yudenia. She realized that maybe she was just being a coward. "Fine, what do you guys got this time?" Sebbie says. Yudenia lit up with glee at Sebbie''s approval of trying something for once, when she herself has tried about a dozen different substances already and enjoyed every single one. "We should start her off with something low strength." Yudenia suggests. Eren agrees especially considering his first experience was a disaster after taking too much of something that was way too strong. An experience he has yet to share with anyone. "I feel like chilling today, though." Sebbie says, "nothing too crazy, alrght."Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. "I got you." Eren takes out a matte blue canister and unscrews the lid. Immediately, a blue fog oozed out from inside. It smelled of a strong but calming chemical that was unfamiliar to anything Sebbie has ever smelled. "Neptune''s Sky." Eren says as uses a spoon to shovel out a mound of a glistening, light blue mound of crystals and dust. "This will make you chill, literally." Yudenia grabs a glass cup and fills it with water from their in unit water dispenser. "You''ll like this stuff, Sebbie. I guarantee." Yudenia holds the glass of cold water out and Eren dumps the mound of Neptune''s Sky into it. The substance dissolved into the water and as it did, a cloud of vapor rose up and spilled out of the glass, falling over the sides like a waterfall. Sebbie watched with awe at how beautiful and appealing it looked. Yudenia hands the glass over to Sebbie who took the comfortably cold glass in her hand. The cool cloud of vapor falling over her hand and arm. She could already feel a bit light headed just from sniffing the vapor. "Just take a short sip." Yudenia says. Sebbie hesitated for a moment before bringing the vapor covered glass to her lips and letting the liquid cloud seep into her mouth. If she could explain the sensation of drinking it, it was like drinking a cloud from the sky, her mouth barely felt the wet. All that vapor spilling out of it must''ve been the substance de-densifying the water. It tasted like sweet chemicals, like blueberries mixed with a hint of hand soap, but it was tolerable. The effects came on almost immediately. Sebbie felt the inside of her body cool like her heart was now pumping a cold fluid throughout her body. She felt lighter and for a second almost forgot she was sitting on the edge of the bed as it felt like she was sitting on air. In the past, when Sebbie once tried a strand of ancient mad honey, her mind would be telling her to panic or become anxious and she could feel her mind trying to input those alerts, but for some reason, she remained completely calm. Yudenia and Eren both takes sips from the glass as well and they were soon sitting on the comfort chairs enjoying the floaty experience. Sebbie couldn''t help but ask in her mind where this "Neptune''s Sky" has been all her life, why she hasn''t tried it until now, and why it is even illegal in the first place. She lowers herself back and almost stopped herself when she couldn''t feel the bed under her until she remembered that it was only altered perception of the senses, and lays back onto the bed. "Why isn''t everyone doing this?" Sebbie spoke out loud and to her surprise her voice echoed, bouncing off the walls of the room and back into her head. When Yudenia answered her, the sound of her voice was stacked at least three times over and each voice a different pitch. It was beautifully appealing to hear. "I told you you would like it." Yudenia says, and Eren smiles. Sebbie thought that maybe she was wrong about Eren. Maybe his substance adventures weren''t so bad after all. She now felt a new comfort around Eren, a trust that she hadn''t before. Strangely enough, she was thanking him out loud for introducing her to this amazing substance that she probably never would''ve tried otherwise. She wanted more. Not just more of the Neptune''s Sky, but more experiences, new experiences. "I don''t want this to end." Sebbie could hear herself mutter. Yudenia laughs out loud and it was the most beautiful laugh Sebbie has ever heard, bringing a smile across her own face. *** It was illegal to run vehicles manufactured before the year 2350 on the magnetized roads and highways that dominated most of the country. This was partly due to pollution prevention efforts and the fact that vehicles built before the year 2004 were not equipped with the proper tracking and registration requirements. If these vehicles were caught driving on any magnetic street or highway, they would be immediately pulled over, shut down and towed, no questions asked, and the driver would receive a hefty fine. Not only did the car get towed but it was also placed in a scrap yard to be scrapped and never seen again. Most of the vehicles that were caught or found abandoned and towed in this manner were stolen. The government branch that oversaw this issue had little concern for the old, stolen vehicles, because it was their goal to fill the country with brand new, magnet friendly and 100% pollution free vehicles. So any time they had the chance to get rid of these outdated and relatively ancient hunks of technology, they scrapped the hell out of them, and this was common knowledge amongst the public. Gonjie "John Prince" Willmans knew how risky it would be to drive his 1999 van into the Capitol City in broad daylight, but this didn''t stop him from speeding down the magnetized highway in an illegal vehicle. He and his associates, all members of the infamous Purple Knights gang, kept their faces covered with tattered cloths and rags. One of the members who, sat in the back of the van, would only remove his rag from his face to take a hit from a handheld device every once in a while. John Prince used an outdated GPS system to navigate to East Capitol University where they were to meet an external associate who believed that he was going to purchase a drug he has only heard of but never tried. John Prince and nearly all members of the Purple Knights were addicted to this drug and it''s facial deformity causing effects is part of the reason their faces remained concealed. The street dealer they were set to meet at the university was willing to pay some good money for the mysterious drug which is not the reason why they were driving the three and a half hour drive from Centreville, but the street dealer was merely a means to get close to their real target of whom they knew was attending the school and was planning on abducting. That person of interest was Sebilla Clackamans.