Of Those Who Claim Humanity
0
Jericho Antares
FAKKU Writer
An original story I've been tinkering with using technology based off the Eric Nylund "Signal" series, where high-tech computer metaphor uses imagery instead of code to display everything from information to subconscious feelings.
Of Those Who Claim Humanity
Prologue:
Petty Officer First Class Jericho Anarei
Training Center †˜Halcyon’
Ilya Sorna
A paper sat on the top of the lone desk in Jericho’s room as he went about his daily routine of the inactive soldier. He exercised, he ate, he read, and he slept. This paper, however, promised to break that cycle, and yet the young man knew nothing about it.
The deadbolt of his room clicked as it slid into the open position and the door swung open with a good deal of force as Jericho entered after dinner.
“Hm?” He murmured, his attention instantly caught by the out of place sheet on his desk. He strode to the note with a hand in his pocket and picked it up, his eyes already darting from side to side as he read it. “ Gotta be kidding me. This can’t be right. Hey, Karuna!” He yelled after finishing the note and walking out of the room with a renewed sense of purpose. A girl with the same fatigues as Jericho turned as she finished unlocking her own room and stared at him blankly.
“Yes, sir?” She asked in the unusually calm tone of most all the personnel on this base. Jericho shifted uneasily at her demeanor before showing her the note.
“You get one of these?” He asked quickly as she read it slowly. She finished reading and looked up to him with the same vacant stare, obviously not as enthused as he was.
“Well according to your document I should have receive something along the lines of it, but of course not the same thing.” She said as she opened her door and stepped in. “You see?” she said, her finger indicating a similar paper on her own desk.
Jericho nodded and left the room quickly, consulting the other names that had been listed, and then re-checking the man who had sent it.
“Metz?” He muttered in a suppressed shock, then looked back up to the door he stood in front of.
†˜Dr. Simon Metz’ was etched into the large oak door, and Jericho bitterly remembered the last visit he had paid the doctor three years ago. The visit that negated his existence. Today, however, will re-affirm it. He raised a hand and knocked lightly on the oak door.
A leather chair shifted from within and shoes clicked on a hardwood floor before the doorknob spun and the door swung inward. A bespectacled man with scraggly black hair and dull grey eyes looked at Jericho for a second before nodding.
“Yes, I thought you might come here today. Please, sit down.” The doctor said, indicating a chair in the center of the room. Jericho nodded and took the seat as Metz skirted his desk and sat back down in his old leather chair with an exaggerated sigh.
“So it’s final?” Jericho said, holding up the paper in his hand. “Even with the reason I couldn’t be part of Olympus before still in play, I can do this?” Excitement began to creep into his voice, and a smile played across his face.
“Yes, Jericho. As you know, your personality retention has kept you out of the operation for going on three years now, but you are now officially needed. Congratulations.” Metz said with a forced smile. Jericho returned the gesture with a smirk and looked down to his papers again.
“But sir, this also includes Karuna, Ackerson, and Tanis. Is the entire team washouts of Olmpus?” He said, his mood worsening as Metz nodded slowly.
“Yes, each operative of this new team is an un-desirable from the first Operation Olympus, and as such will be dubbed Hephaestus Team. You are to report to the shuttle bay at 8:30 tomorrow morning as per that message for transportation to the main armory labs for updated genetic modifications and to acquire your armor and weapons. Now if you’ll excuse me, Jericho.” He forced the last words out, his tolerance of being in the presence of someone he thought so lowly of overflowing. Jericho narrowed his eyes and shot the doctor a withering gaze before nodding and standing. He snapped off a quick salute before turning on his heels and leaving the office. He pulled the oak door behind him closed with such force that the glass cracked and he left the doorknob twisted.
“I need another door, or a new office. That mistake damages something in here every time he pays a visit.” Metz muttered, venom in his words.
Petty Officer Third Class Nausicaa Karuna
Cargo Bay of Dropship †˜Helaus One’
Undisclosed Location
Karuna looked to the other woman and the two men on the dropship with her. She knew them all, but she had never spoken to any of them except for Anarei, and what conversations she did have with him always grew to be too animated. She wished he had suffered a †˜training accident’ like some of the others had. His erratic behavior was un-settling.
“Something wrong, Karuna?” Jericho asked her from across the bay. She looked back to the man who sat across from her, his green eyes catching the light and seeming to have a glow of their own. She couldn’t see his face in the dark, but the image was still burned into her mind from the conversations she had shared with him. She knew that the now non-descript face bore rather feminine features in contrast to the crew cut and deep tone of his voice. She also knew that, like herself and the others in Hephaestus, he was one of the few Olympus candidates that had a tan. That is what marked them as failures. They had spent no time in the power armor that every operating candidate wore at all times, and thus could almost pass as an albino from how pale their skin became. “Karuna?” Jericho asked again, wrenching the image of his face from Karuna’s mind. She squinted to see the features of his face in the dark before finally shaking her head.
“No, sir.” She said in a whisper-soft tone. She wanted to forget how he looked, or that he even existed, but now that was impossible. Now he was her commander. Now he was †˜Sir’.
PO1 Jericho Anarei
Cargo Bay of Dropship †˜Helaus One’
Undisclosed Location
“No, sir” Karuna said, an un-familiar bite to her words. Jericho said nothing, but he could empathize. He was likely hated by all three Olympus candidates on this ship, and the very fact that he could empathize was part of the reason. One of the behavioral modifications administered to every volunteer Olympus candidate was a suppressant of most all human personality traits, save anger. The only reason they were even left that is to have a drive to kill an enemy other than orders. Anarei, however, retained much of his previous personality. The signs of the retention had surfaced later, but it was still early enough to guarantee him to be a washout at best, or likely to be executed.
“Alright, just take it easy.” He said, trying to be polite while he knew it would only alienate him more from Karuna, but he didn’t care. He was just glad he had retained his personality and not his memories. Whatever reason he had enlisted for Olympus must have been terrible. After all, most eighteen-year-olds wouldn’t sign their life away for some extra money. In this case, ignorance truly was bliss.
“We’re landing in five, Anarei.” A voice boomed from the cabin of the dropship. Jericho looked to the door and adjusted the boom of the microphone near his mouth before saying a quick confirmation and standing, his hand already on his rucksack.
“Okay, landing is in five. Get everything you have ready to go. We have to get off this thing quick. Can’t have records of it landing somewhere that doesn’t exist.” He relayed to his team, who all wordlessly stood up and grabbed their own gear, then stood in silence. Jericho smiled at how little the news had affected them, but then the smiled faded as the craft touched down and the bay doors opened.
“All out, Anarei. Be back in a couple months for pick-up.” The pilot said over the radio, getting only a distracted †˜uh-huh’ from Jericho. The four candidates jumped off the ship and took three steps before feeling the heat wash of the ship’s VTOL engines and being stopped by a scientist who placed themselves in their path.
“Hello, I am Professor Callistan, Chief of genetic research here. I understand you are the new team. Here I have each of your personal regiments for genetic mods designed to both enhance you to current operative levels and to work to counter-act your respectful defects. Behavioral suppressants for Anarei, Instinctual controls for Karuna, chems to reduce Ackerson’s higher-thinking (mostly the philosophical, of course), and a simple general stimulant for Tanis. If all goes well, then by the time you’ve recovered you’ll each be acceptable and capable operators for Olympus. Are you ready, Hephaestus?” The doctor asked as he tossed each of them a clip-board. Jericho nodded silently, each of his squad members doing the same.
“Yeah, let’s get started.” Jericho said through a slight smile. Callistan returned the wry gesture before waving them on toward the small tunnel in the side of a mountain.
“You’ve never been to the labs, have you Anarei?” Callistand asked after a few minutes of walking, knowing that Jericho was the only one he could carry a decent enough conversation with. Jericho only shook his head, distracted by the aspect of the operations they were all about to undergo. After three years of free thought and feelings, did he want to give it up? Yes, he had to. He convinced himself repeatedly on this point, giving short and general answers to Callistan whenever he was asked something.
Once the small entourage finally reached the entrance to the main labs, Callistan hit the call button on the surface elevator and stood silently, his gaze constantly flitting between the four soldiers around him. When an elevator finally arrived, Callistan waving them all in before grabbing Jericho’s arm and watching the door close before the three others. He pulled Jericho to the side and looked around quickly, always keeping the floor counter of the elevator in the corner of his eye.
“Listen, Anarei. I know what Metz has ordered, but the other geneticists and I have a different approach to take to this team. Metz called you Hephaestus because, as I’m sure you know, of the shared deformity, though with yours of course being mental and not physical. We wish instead, to create Poseidon. We are going to counter-act the behavioral suppressants for all of your team members and restore them to how they were before they volunteered. You would be leading a squad of humans with as much force, ferver, and unpredictability as the sea over which Poseidon resides. Can you do this? Rather, do you want to?” Callistan said, his words throwing Jericho into a daze.
“Are you saying that you’re going to dis-obey Metz, the entire military of Ilya Sorna?” Jericho whispered through gritted teeth. Callistan nodded grimly before putting a hand on each of Jericho’s shoulders.
“They’ll be sending you on suicide missions. Contrary to what Metz thinks, leading humans is much more effective than leading dolls. We decided that if you were to die, you should at least die as humans.” Callistan said. Jericho looked the professor in the eyes for a moment before nodding.
“Thank you, professor.” He whispered before the elevator doors opened again and Karuna leaned out.
“They sent us back up to get you. What happened?” she asked as Callistan turned around and motioned for Jericho to follow. The two men stepped onto the elevator and smiled with renewed senses of vigor as the door closed.
Of Those Who Claim Humanity
Prologue:
Petty Officer First Class Jericho Anarei
Training Center †˜Halcyon’
Ilya Sorna
A paper sat on the top of the lone desk in Jericho’s room as he went about his daily routine of the inactive soldier. He exercised, he ate, he read, and he slept. This paper, however, promised to break that cycle, and yet the young man knew nothing about it.
The deadbolt of his room clicked as it slid into the open position and the door swung open with a good deal of force as Jericho entered after dinner.
“Hm?” He murmured, his attention instantly caught by the out of place sheet on his desk. He strode to the note with a hand in his pocket and picked it up, his eyes already darting from side to side as he read it. “ Gotta be kidding me. This can’t be right. Hey, Karuna!” He yelled after finishing the note and walking out of the room with a renewed sense of purpose. A girl with the same fatigues as Jericho turned as she finished unlocking her own room and stared at him blankly.
“Yes, sir?” She asked in the unusually calm tone of most all the personnel on this base. Jericho shifted uneasily at her demeanor before showing her the note.
“You get one of these?” He asked quickly as she read it slowly. She finished reading and looked up to him with the same vacant stare, obviously not as enthused as he was.
“Well according to your document I should have receive something along the lines of it, but of course not the same thing.” She said as she opened her door and stepped in. “You see?” she said, her finger indicating a similar paper on her own desk.
Jericho nodded and left the room quickly, consulting the other names that had been listed, and then re-checking the man who had sent it.
“Metz?” He muttered in a suppressed shock, then looked back up to the door he stood in front of.
†˜Dr. Simon Metz’ was etched into the large oak door, and Jericho bitterly remembered the last visit he had paid the doctor three years ago. The visit that negated his existence. Today, however, will re-affirm it. He raised a hand and knocked lightly on the oak door.
A leather chair shifted from within and shoes clicked on a hardwood floor before the doorknob spun and the door swung inward. A bespectacled man with scraggly black hair and dull grey eyes looked at Jericho for a second before nodding.
“Yes, I thought you might come here today. Please, sit down.” The doctor said, indicating a chair in the center of the room. Jericho nodded and took the seat as Metz skirted his desk and sat back down in his old leather chair with an exaggerated sigh.
“So it’s final?” Jericho said, holding up the paper in his hand. “Even with the reason I couldn’t be part of Olympus before still in play, I can do this?” Excitement began to creep into his voice, and a smile played across his face.
“Yes, Jericho. As you know, your personality retention has kept you out of the operation for going on three years now, but you are now officially needed. Congratulations.” Metz said with a forced smile. Jericho returned the gesture with a smirk and looked down to his papers again.
“But sir, this also includes Karuna, Ackerson, and Tanis. Is the entire team washouts of Olmpus?” He said, his mood worsening as Metz nodded slowly.
“Yes, each operative of this new team is an un-desirable from the first Operation Olympus, and as such will be dubbed Hephaestus Team. You are to report to the shuttle bay at 8:30 tomorrow morning as per that message for transportation to the main armory labs for updated genetic modifications and to acquire your armor and weapons. Now if you’ll excuse me, Jericho.” He forced the last words out, his tolerance of being in the presence of someone he thought so lowly of overflowing. Jericho narrowed his eyes and shot the doctor a withering gaze before nodding and standing. He snapped off a quick salute before turning on his heels and leaving the office. He pulled the oak door behind him closed with such force that the glass cracked and he left the doorknob twisted.
“I need another door, or a new office. That mistake damages something in here every time he pays a visit.” Metz muttered, venom in his words.
Petty Officer Third Class Nausicaa Karuna
Cargo Bay of Dropship †˜Helaus One’
Undisclosed Location
Karuna looked to the other woman and the two men on the dropship with her. She knew them all, but she had never spoken to any of them except for Anarei, and what conversations she did have with him always grew to be too animated. She wished he had suffered a †˜training accident’ like some of the others had. His erratic behavior was un-settling.
“Something wrong, Karuna?” Jericho asked her from across the bay. She looked back to the man who sat across from her, his green eyes catching the light and seeming to have a glow of their own. She couldn’t see his face in the dark, but the image was still burned into her mind from the conversations she had shared with him. She knew that the now non-descript face bore rather feminine features in contrast to the crew cut and deep tone of his voice. She also knew that, like herself and the others in Hephaestus, he was one of the few Olympus candidates that had a tan. That is what marked them as failures. They had spent no time in the power armor that every operating candidate wore at all times, and thus could almost pass as an albino from how pale their skin became. “Karuna?” Jericho asked again, wrenching the image of his face from Karuna’s mind. She squinted to see the features of his face in the dark before finally shaking her head.
“No, sir.” She said in a whisper-soft tone. She wanted to forget how he looked, or that he even existed, but now that was impossible. Now he was her commander. Now he was †˜Sir’.
PO1 Jericho Anarei
Cargo Bay of Dropship †˜Helaus One’
Undisclosed Location
“No, sir” Karuna said, an un-familiar bite to her words. Jericho said nothing, but he could empathize. He was likely hated by all three Olympus candidates on this ship, and the very fact that he could empathize was part of the reason. One of the behavioral modifications administered to every volunteer Olympus candidate was a suppressant of most all human personality traits, save anger. The only reason they were even left that is to have a drive to kill an enemy other than orders. Anarei, however, retained much of his previous personality. The signs of the retention had surfaced later, but it was still early enough to guarantee him to be a washout at best, or likely to be executed.
“Alright, just take it easy.” He said, trying to be polite while he knew it would only alienate him more from Karuna, but he didn’t care. He was just glad he had retained his personality and not his memories. Whatever reason he had enlisted for Olympus must have been terrible. After all, most eighteen-year-olds wouldn’t sign their life away for some extra money. In this case, ignorance truly was bliss.
“We’re landing in five, Anarei.” A voice boomed from the cabin of the dropship. Jericho looked to the door and adjusted the boom of the microphone near his mouth before saying a quick confirmation and standing, his hand already on his rucksack.
“Okay, landing is in five. Get everything you have ready to go. We have to get off this thing quick. Can’t have records of it landing somewhere that doesn’t exist.” He relayed to his team, who all wordlessly stood up and grabbed their own gear, then stood in silence. Jericho smiled at how little the news had affected them, but then the smiled faded as the craft touched down and the bay doors opened.
“All out, Anarei. Be back in a couple months for pick-up.” The pilot said over the radio, getting only a distracted †˜uh-huh’ from Jericho. The four candidates jumped off the ship and took three steps before feeling the heat wash of the ship’s VTOL engines and being stopped by a scientist who placed themselves in their path.
“Hello, I am Professor Callistan, Chief of genetic research here. I understand you are the new team. Here I have each of your personal regiments for genetic mods designed to both enhance you to current operative levels and to work to counter-act your respectful defects. Behavioral suppressants for Anarei, Instinctual controls for Karuna, chems to reduce Ackerson’s higher-thinking (mostly the philosophical, of course), and a simple general stimulant for Tanis. If all goes well, then by the time you’ve recovered you’ll each be acceptable and capable operators for Olympus. Are you ready, Hephaestus?” The doctor asked as he tossed each of them a clip-board. Jericho nodded silently, each of his squad members doing the same.
“Yeah, let’s get started.” Jericho said through a slight smile. Callistan returned the wry gesture before waving them on toward the small tunnel in the side of a mountain.
“You’ve never been to the labs, have you Anarei?” Callistand asked after a few minutes of walking, knowing that Jericho was the only one he could carry a decent enough conversation with. Jericho only shook his head, distracted by the aspect of the operations they were all about to undergo. After three years of free thought and feelings, did he want to give it up? Yes, he had to. He convinced himself repeatedly on this point, giving short and general answers to Callistan whenever he was asked something.
Once the small entourage finally reached the entrance to the main labs, Callistan hit the call button on the surface elevator and stood silently, his gaze constantly flitting between the four soldiers around him. When an elevator finally arrived, Callistan waving them all in before grabbing Jericho’s arm and watching the door close before the three others. He pulled Jericho to the side and looked around quickly, always keeping the floor counter of the elevator in the corner of his eye.
“Listen, Anarei. I know what Metz has ordered, but the other geneticists and I have a different approach to take to this team. Metz called you Hephaestus because, as I’m sure you know, of the shared deformity, though with yours of course being mental and not physical. We wish instead, to create Poseidon. We are going to counter-act the behavioral suppressants for all of your team members and restore them to how they were before they volunteered. You would be leading a squad of humans with as much force, ferver, and unpredictability as the sea over which Poseidon resides. Can you do this? Rather, do you want to?” Callistan said, his words throwing Jericho into a daze.
“Are you saying that you’re going to dis-obey Metz, the entire military of Ilya Sorna?” Jericho whispered through gritted teeth. Callistan nodded grimly before putting a hand on each of Jericho’s shoulders.
“They’ll be sending you on suicide missions. Contrary to what Metz thinks, leading humans is much more effective than leading dolls. We decided that if you were to die, you should at least die as humans.” Callistan said. Jericho looked the professor in the eyes for a moment before nodding.
“Thank you, professor.” He whispered before the elevator doors opened again and Karuna leaned out.
“They sent us back up to get you. What happened?” she asked as Callistan turned around and motioned for Jericho to follow. The two men stepped onto the elevator and smiled with renewed senses of vigor as the door closed.