HASTE
First Published by Static Movement in
Adventures in Other Worlds
The mind of Jason Conway cranked like an unstoppable clock winding violently into the future. An incessant ticking echoed through the darkness before a blaze of florescent light came to life above, burning into his eyes. The blackness contracted in an ellipse, exposing a ring of murky blue membrane. His vision bloomed, blurry, causing his eyelids to timidly shutter and then blink rapidly. Tears streaked down his temples to his ears.
The room was familiar to Jason, but only in the way déjà vu is familiar. His hands and feet were bound to an observation table in the middle of the bright white room with no windows. Life support monitors surrounded him while tubes penetrated veins all over his body. He couldn’t move or speak; he seemed to lay there lifeless, but his mind cranked. He narrowed his eyes and rolled them to the right, towards the incessant ticking. It was all he could do to find some sort of discernment, to find some sort of sanity from a maddening sound. An electronic metronome blinked back and forth near two recognizable figures. The scientist and the businessman, both of whose names escaped the churning edges of Jason’s awakening conscious. They ignored their test subject as if he was a simple manifestation, a television left on from the night before. Instead they argued ceaselessly over a clipboard document, which the businessman waved violently at the scientist.
The businessman grew only more irritated and relentless as the conversation continued.
“I understand the implications of the process, doctor; I have been here, not only for ever Haste test, but for ever Modus Machina test as well.”
The doctor shook his head in disagreement.
“Every experiment prior has been of an isolated incident. We have tested the substance without the nanotechnology; and the nanotechnology without the substance. We are not ready at this stage to move forward. Enhancing the mechanism could cause uncontrollable, unforeseeable problems.
The businessman interjected ruthlessly unbending, “You can not pretend this wasn’t apart of the plan doctor. It always has been from the very beginning. In any case I have been ordered by the Alliance to merge Project Modus Machina and Project Haste. They are expecting to have results by the end of today; would you like to ask them to explain it themselves?”
The scientist put his head down vilified, wavering to speak again. But his head stayed down. The businessman held a faux gold fountain pen towards the scientist and smiled. He grudgingly took the damn thing and signed the document. The businessman looked up still smiling and then let out a quick gust of gratification from his nostrils.
“Truly, it is mightier.” With that the businessman passed quickly outside the peripheral of Jason’s vision.
The scientist squabbled to himself, washing his hands, finger by finger and then fixing a medical mask to his face and nitrile gloves to his hands. He finally made his way to the observation table bringing along a cart of medical supplies. There where four syringes. Two big syringes labeled MACHINA held a substance inside that looked like liquid metal. Two small syringes labeled HASTE, contained a substance inside that resembled blood.
Jason peered up at the doctor, his vision still full of what looked to be translucent worms that squirmed and wiggled on his retina, magnifying the light above.
“Hello again Jason, we have met before, but that was a different time and a different place. Let me introduce myself again, my name is Doctor Richard Quay.”
Doctor Quay spoke with sympathy but excluded his empathy.
“I’m not going to lie to you Jason, what is about to take place within the next few hours is going to be very painful. I don’t think either of us want to be here. I will try my best too make this procedure as painless as possible. The procedure is simple; it includes a series of injections. The first is the Machina injection, in which billions of tiny bio-nano-machines will enter your blood stream and inhabit every part of your body, fixing what needs to be fixed and improving everything else. After two hours I will then inject Haste.”
Doctor Quay took a breath, unsure how to explain something he did not fully grasp himself.
“Haste acts as a kind of adrenaline boost in support of the nanotechnology. So if you can imagine an adrenaline shot to the power of a billion. This is essentially the concept.”
Turning a nozzle underneath the observation table allowed Xenon gas to flow through the tube and into Jason’s mouth and nose. He then reached up to fix the intravenous drip, synchronizing it to the metronomes incessant ticking.
“Although you will be put under anesthesia, all past Machina subjects reported feeling significant pain.”
Doctor Quay began to fade from Jason’s vision. His world became a haze that evaporated to blackness, followed by a sharp white pain throughout his entire body. A flood of memories converged inside of him. He was transported to the brink of his life and to the moment when he had first met the scientist and the businessman.
****
Drop pods screamed across the night sky like a thousand bottle rockets being shot off by mischievous angels from heaven. They streamed down by the dozens. The entire 12th space infantry division, nicknamed the grey division, had made their arrival to a new civilization, a new future, a new war.
They arrived on Theogon in the recently terraformed safe zone outside harm from the enemy. What the soldiers had come to know as titans. These gigantic slow moving creatures stood over two hundred meters tall and dressed in massive clunky armor. Completely shielded by their protective covering, the titans looked like spiky biped crustaceans that had crawled out of the deep sea abyss. They were almost completely defensive except when surrounded. If overwhelmed the titans would emit a bright coruscation from their fists, raise them high above their head, and then slam them to the ground letting off an intense flash of devastation. For years it took the One Faction Alliance and the lives of many soldiers to form a strategy that would take just one titan down.
“Jason Conway.”, the major general yelled across the field of grey suited soldiers.
Jason was busy readjusting the water output valve on his grey suit. All new recruits were subject to certain pranks since they wouldn’t see battle for the next couple of weeks. One of these pranks involved cranking up the water output to max causing the entire inside of Jason’s suit to get wet whenever he was thirsty for a sip of water.
“What now?” Jason mumbled under his breath.
Deek, another new recruit, tapped Jason on the shoulder.
“Hey, Jay, you better get your ass movin’, that’s major general Hammer calling you.
“Shit.”
Jason gathered himself and sloshed his way over to the major general, presenting a straight salute as best he could in the flooded suit.
“Yes sir? Major General Sir.” Jason yelled loudly, being careful not to look him in the eyes.
“At ease solider.”
The major general moved quickly, walking towards a large canopy set up away from the rest of the troops. Jason followed.
“That shit they taught you in camp ends once you hit alien territory, never do it again, you understand me solider?”
“Yes sir.”
“Private Conway, you have been called to convene with two very important men who have made this war against the titans possible. They have reviewed all of your physical and mental abilities and have chosen you, along with eight other soldiers, to participate in their next big project. This is so that people like us, can take those titan sons-a-bitches down. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
The Major General stopped just before the entrance to the large covered canopy.
“After this meet you will move up to rank private first class. Let me ask you something private; were you an eagle scout by chance?”
Jason smiled knowing the major general most likely knew the answer to the question.
“Yes sir, I was.”
Major general Hammer smirked back.
“Then welcome to E-4 Corporal, you can pick out your squad when you get back.”
Inside the canopy eight soldiers stood in firm attention towards the scientist and the businessman. Jason followed suite.
“Good morning soldiers. My name is Joseph Burr and this is Doctor Richard Quay. As explained by major general Hammer we are the core scientific and financial representation against the titans. In our efforts, we want to see Theogon become the new prosperous Earth for all mankind, and we believe that very future is standing here today. The nine of you have been chosen to participate in a top secret military project. And though none of you have yet come face to face with the enemy, by the end of this project you all will be the next driving force towards destroying the titans. At undisclosed times, four of you will be assigned to project Modus Machina, the other four will be assigned to project Haste, and one of you will be assigned to an amalgamation project that involves both. Information on these projects will be disclosed to you in progress of the project. All projects will take place at the Human Advancement Lab back on earth. Replacements have been chosen in the possible event of you being killed in action before participating in the project.”
Major general Hammer took a step forward towards the men. “Do you understand these terms?”
“Yes, sir.” The nine soldiers yelled in unison.
****
The land was forever flat and dusty. A few curious rain drops fell and then more and more followed into a downpour. Jason looked to the West, away from his scouting squad towards the setting sun and the distant silhouette of the many roaming titans. After a number of years in the trenches, the scientist and businessman had passed from Jason’s memory. How many years had it been, Jason thought to himself. He had seen the fall of two titans within the years gone by. Those battles he would never forget.
Deek climbed out of his trench belligerent.
“Fuck this shit hole, man. I hate this goddamn planet. Everything’s too big, like it’s important. Big desert, big aliens, even the raindrops are too big. It’s cats and dogs every time.”
The rest of the scouting squad was emerging from their trenches as well. The medic, Juan, yelled out to Deek’s complaint.
“It has to do with the different rates of coalescence.”
“Oh, hey, maybe you can explain what has to do with the different rates of me not giving a shit.”
“Fuck you.”
“Hey, hey, quiet.” Jason shouted, grasping the situation. However, his attention was somewhere else.
“There’s something close by.”
A slow stirring could be heard, like a low rumbling stomach.
“It’s thunder.”
“No, it’s not.”
“What is it then, is it a titan?” One of the new recruits questioned, clutching on to his assault rifle.
Deek laughed.
“Are you blind? Do you see a titan? If there was a titan close by it would be pretty freakin’ obvious.”
Just then, as if to spite Deek’s comment, the ground shook violently, knocking the entire squad down. A couple hundred meters from them dust and sand exploded into the air. A titan emerged, hidden beneath the surface, a rising monolith. Jason looked up into its eyes, burning like stars.
“Get back into your trenches now!” Jason roared.
The new recruit, filled with panic, locked back his rifle and dead griped the trigger. The other men followed in shock of the action, desperately trying to kill the unassailable creature.
“Cease fire! Cease fire! Jason’s voice was a suffocated breath underneath the cry of gunfire.
It was too late. The titan looked down, breathing out vehemence. Its fists glinted with light and rose towards the sky.
“Run! Jason yelled desperately trying to save his squad.
“Forget them, come on!” Deek yelled back to Jason.
Jason looked again towards doom.
“Come on!”
Jason gave up and ran with Deek. They didn’t look back again. They ran as far and as fast as they could until a bright light surrounded them. A thunderclap sounded before they were lifted off the ground and carried forward. White pain shot throughout Jason’s entire body. At the brink of his life he hoped they would bring his body back to Earth, back to his home.
****
Earth, Jason’s mind cranked violently, I’m back on Earth. His eyes shot open, his neck twisted into a dead stare. Doctor Quay stared back, eyes wide in a solid state of fixated horror. Jason’s body wrenched. His back arched towards the blinding lights above. Haste flowed through his body, tearing and repairing every muscle thousands of times a second. It was an incredible, indescribable pain. Every nut and bolt loosened from the observation table. Jason shook uncontrollably until he was free, free from war, free from Theogon, now able to once again roam the Earth. Doctor Quay tried to restrain Jason, but Jason push back causing Doctor Quay to lift from the floor and smash forcefully into life support machines across the room. Jason took a step away from the doctor’s lifeless body. He turned and stepped forward towards the exit. One painful step lead to another and another, a stream of air passed by him faster and faster, until Jason thought he would never be able to stop.
A deafening alarm blared. Jason crashed through the seventh floor window of the Human Advancement Lab. His feet yearned for the Earth below. As Jason hit the ground running, he looked in wonder at the modern electromagnetic skyscrapers with plasma windows and the city street superconductors. Earth had certainly changed from the time he had left so many years ago.
Jason senses the chase behind him. He ran faster with every step. He felt no resistance, he felt free, he felt unstoppable. He imagined this was how the titans must have felt.
As Jason neared the outskirts of the city, dark cloud formations converged overhead. Raindrops fell. But Jason knew something didn’t feel quite right about it. It was a different kind of rain, bigger drops. He fell to his knees at the city’s edge and looked out. There were no homes, no flowers, no white picket fences, no nothing, only the rising black dust clouds of war.
Jason looked back towards the replicate terraformation of a deceitful city. In the distance a tread of fuming tanks and armored grey foot soldiers closed in on him. He knew then where he was, he knew he had to get off Theogon, very, very, quickly.
Copyright © 2011 by Jacob Ruby
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