Chapters HISSSSSSSS
Welp, that's my cue. Nap is over.
I fell out of the sterile white pod and landed on my face on the cold rock floor.
"I always wondered, why don't they have restraints to keep that from happening." I heard a voice nearby
"It'd freeze and shatter." I responded as I pushed myself up. I saw a few other men in similar enclosed grey suits; strange thing to see, since they were black when we entered the pods. They were on either side, and seemed disoriented.
"I'm sure something could withstand-" I couldn't tell who it was, since they all had masks.
"Nothing inorganic can undergo the process. Were you hoping to be caught by a monkey?" The wall a few meters in front of me was covered in pods, all closed and dark.
"What about the pod interior?" A few of the other quick-risers noticed the wall of dead pods.
"It doesn't undergo the process, it's shielded." Pods always have a light on, to signify that they're working. Can't see it from inside, though.
"By what?" I walked towards a near dead-pod and peered in.
"Vacuum. Black hole, specifically, if I recall correctly. It's why the pods can reach absolute zero with the light on, and while not in space."
"How-" There was a yell behind me, somewhere.
"I NEED TO GET OUT, IT'S-IT'S-" A man began tearing off his suit.
"No!" It was too late. He had his suit off, and ran two steps, before falling dead.
I'm not sure how describe death caused by near absolute zero temperatures. You shatter, and turn to a kind of dust; but it's not immediate. You die first, then freeze, and then blow away in the wind.
At least, that's what you're told.
In reality, the best way I can put it, you omplode. Your warmer bits explode, while extremities collapse in on each other. Nasty sight.
A message played over the intercom:
Heating process has begun, please refrain from removing your suit until instructed to do so. Our ventilation system may not be able to handle your bits.
"Well, I think we should go to The Centre." I said.
"Seems like a good spot to regroup with the others." Another agreed. So we headed of to The Centre.
The Centre of the complex was almost as large as the rest of the entirety of the place. It was located in the center of the complex, and had everything. Weight training, video games, comm links, armory for the firing range; also located there, and had most every large important hall stretching from it. It was the body and heart of our race's only home.
We arrived to find it empty.
"Where is everyone? There were plenty closer to The Centre than us." I heard somebody point out.
"Maybe they're being held by their monkeys." Someone else mocked.
"Shut up. There may have been a personnel compromise; we need to get to the armory." My interjection as to the possibility of betrayal woke them up like a shot through the foot. We ran for the nearest rack of weapons and began grabbing them, though they were barely better than squirt guns. We took defensive positions and hid ourselves as best we could from all openings.
The Centre has been adjusted suitably for living and the V.I. is responsive. Localized broadcasts will be given for each area herein.
Of course we didn't take off our suits, that could have been a lie. I signaled to a soldier behind a fake streetlight to watch out for me.
"Computer?" I moved from cover and spoke calmly to the air.
"Yes, how may I help you?" A female voice that sounded like honey returned from nowhere in particular.
"Is this room safe enough to remove our suits?"
"Yes. Is that all?"
"For now." I looked back at my comrades. They shook their heads "no" vigorously.
I peeled my mask from my face, and promptly did not die.
"It's okay. Stay in position, remove masks at separate times; there may still be a threat."
I watched them take turns removing their masks for a few minutes, making sure there was nobody I knew. It was all said and done, and there were grizzled and scarred veterans looking around seriously.
In skin tight suits.
I didn't have much time to enjoy the sight before I heard footsteps coming from down a hall to our right.
We waited behind cover, stun guns ready, and peeked out to see a group of unmasked soldiers walking in formation from the tunnel entrance.
"Freeze, fuckers!" One of 'my' men jumped out and shouted. Eliciting a sigh of annoyance from me and, presumably, everyone else, who now had to follow suit.
The group, luckily for all involved, did so.
"Who the hell are you?" One of a dark complexion, and darker skin, asked.
"Soldiers. Where is everybody else? Why aren't all the pods on?" I couldn't make out his features in the dim lighting.
"We don't know either! What're you gonna do with those, any way? Throw 'em?"
I lowered my gun, "Nah, they'd probably shatter before they even got to you. Do you have any idea about anything?"
"Not a fuckin' one." He said sweetly.
"I-" I was interrupted by the VI.
"Warning! The interior has been breached! Six carbon life forms detected! Brain wave activity suggests sentience!"
"Somebody broke into our base!?" I confirmed.
"Inconclusive: movement and heart rate patterns are not indicative of humans. Cameras are non-operable! Suggest immediate action!"
"Mutes! A scout team found us! MOVE!" I screamed and began the run to the entrance.
"What will we use for weapons? These things won't even make a dent in the mutes' armour!" I heard a following call.
"Improvise! Use your genetic enhancements! They may not, under ANY circumstances, leave here alive!" I was easily going 50 miles an hour. "Computer, are there any operable weapons near the entrance!?"
"Left, just before the exit into Entrance Area, there is a cache of various laser weapons. I will prime them for you." She responded, with a twinge of worry.
We were approaching the turn, and the computer had put a map ahead of us to show that the intruders were about 7 meters beyond the corner to the entrance. I waved for the others to turn to get the weapons, and silently continued running. As I came upon the corner, I twisted myself to preserve momentum, while performing a double leg drop kick. I wasn't sure what I had hit, but there was the satisfying crunch of breaking bones and veins from it. I quickly spun myself up and paused for a moment to get a good look.
They were ponies. Except, clearly not; because no pony looks like they were painted by a five year old. Maybe their appearance was to shock the opponent into inaction. Let me tell you something: It didn't work.
Before they could react, I had the white one bloodied and broken 8 meters away from them. I was halfway through beating the orange one, when I was hit with, what felt like, a stun blast. I was tossed away from the orange mute and saw that there was a large white one in the gear shaped entranceway.
"Crap, that's the squad leader, or something." I thought to myself. Before anyone had a chance to do anything, I saw the black soldier come around the corner, with a giant gatling laser; and he was closely followed by more lightly armed soldiers.
"EAT SHIT AND DIE, MOTHERFUCKERS!" The unmistakable whine of lasers firing filled the air, as every one of the lasers was fired continuously at the intruders.
"HOLD FIRE!" The black soldier carrying the gatling laser commanded.
They were gone. Vanished.
"The fuck?" Was the general consensus on the disappearing mutes.
I got up, dusted myself off, and asked the computer, "Any evidence of where they went?"
"No. Their heat and brain signatures seemed to have gone suddenly. No trace to follow, either." It responded.
"So they teleported out, without being teleported out?"
"Perhaps an untraceable teleportation device has since been created while you were out?" The VI responded.
"Is there an encampment locally?"
"Hold up, are thinking what I think you're thinking?" The black soldier asked.
"We can't let them escape. If we're lucky, we can stop them from sending the coordinates and status of this base."
"There's a large number of sentient brain waves about 5 miles east. They're too far to count accurately, but I can tell there are many. I'll upload coordinates to your combat armor upon donning it."
"Are we actually fucking doing this?" I heard a soldier ask.
"Damn right we are. Get your armor and plasma weaponry, as well as stun rods. We're assaulting a mute camp, boys!"
"Can you believe that there's an entire race that's been hidden in the mountains?" Twilight said excitedly to no one in particular in the library.
"A better question is: Why did they try to kill us?" Rainbow Dash responded angrily with a glance at Pinkie's unconscious and gnarled body.
"They might have thought we were trespassing on their territory. Many, um... less intelligent animals react like that." Fluttershy said, trying to ignore her unconscious friends in the corner near the basement door..
"They can't be unintelligent! I've never seen magic shaped and controlled in such an-" Twilight was practically bouncing.
"Twilight Sparkle, it doesn't matter whether or not they're intelligent. They viciously attacked your friends, and would have killed you if I hadn't teleported you out." Princess Celestia said firmly, causing Twilight to lower her head.
"But you do raise a good point," Celestia continued, "they have harnessed magic to an extreme point. They pose quite a threat in such close proximity to Ponyville, we have to take action."
"Um, Princess, if you wouldn't mind..." Fluttershy stuttered.
"Yes, Fluttershy?
"Well, if they are intelligent, and they acted out of fear, maybe they can be reasoned with?"
"Of course, if you can find a way to safely try to contact them, feel free. I would like to avoid any conflict, but I don't feel that we'll be able to avoid it." Celestia said in a resigned voice.
Pinkie gurgled up blood and coughed.
Zitra waited in The Centre, hoping that someone who knew something would drop by. Everybody was half-heartedly killing time, trying to keep occupied until something happened. Zitra was moving from the firing range to the weights, when she heard the hurried march of a group of soldiers coming from the tunnel to the entrance.
"Hey, what's going on!?" She shouted to the soldiers as they entered The Centre.
"Mute intrusion, we're gearing up to try and intercept." One near the lead responded.
"Get the mechs ready, we'll need a few." Another shouted as they exited The Centre.
There was a moment of stunned silence, followed by shouts and reorganization. Engineers ran down to the mech garage to activate them, comm operators ran to the Comm Room, and Zitra began organizing the miscellaneous civies into a defense force.
Our armor was basically a second layer of skin. Very thick and powerful skin. It had a VI that relayed relevant information and responded automatically to your needs, barring one. It matched the color of your surroundings, rerouted power, and improved your "natural" abilities 50 fold, as well as a dozen other things. Powered off, it looked black pudding skin.
"I can't believe we're going to assault a bunch of mutes." I heard somebody mumble as they slipped on their suit in the cramped quarters.
"Look, mutes are dumb. Sometimes they can be convinced to switch sides, if you strong arm them enough. If we can beat them down, but offer gracious mercy, we may be able to convert them. Do I need to tell you why that would be good?" I responded.
"If we're just going to knock them out and beat them up, why the plasma weapons?" He asked.
"Who said that that's all we're going to do? We aren't proving that we're the ones to side with if it looks like we're unable to kill."
"All right, so we are going to have some fun!" I heard a youthful voice.
"Are the mechs ready?" I spoke through the comm unit in my suit's breast.
"We have 15 ready, sir. Do you need any more?" I heard an engineer respond through my hood.
"Warm up two more, and load one-third of them with only non-lethal weapons; load the rest with non-lethal capabilities. Switching to secure assault channel, link up and get to the garage." I left the small square room.
The complex was designed to compliment our training and abilities, specifically while suited. The halls were large, wide, and mostly empty; and you could jump quickly with the suits on. We made full use by leaping off the walls to get around corners, to keep momentum. We were in the garage in no time.
"We're opening the door and clearing out." An engineer wearing a red enclosed Maintenance Suit stated as he fiddled with a remote.
Mechs are extremely varied. Everything from massive, slow assault; to barely bigger than you.
I hopped into the nearest mech and plugged in. It was a Roadrunner Strafe-Class, though the real name is far more complicated and numeric. It had multi-directional treads and a small swivel cockpit, with two programmable plasma cannons. It was unpainted, or the paint had come off.
"How many of you will be riding? Didn't get enough mechs for everybody." I heard the black soldier ask.
"About 20, I think." I heard a response.
"Grab a mounted gun or hold tight," I heard a mechanic, "we're opening the doors now."
The groan of ancient metal scraping and coming to life was undoubtedly awful to anyone without a noise filter. The door opened, revealing a lush and untouched forest.
"I'll lead, follow in five minutes, think of it as an emergency scout. No mounts." I ordered.
I sped away on the mech. I activated the main cannons; I set them to "contained", "concussive", and "lethal".
How should I approach this? I thought, leaping out with guns blazing will be dramatic and fun, and may even scare them. Yeah, I'll go with that.
I saw the clearing ahead. I switched to my mech's speaker, so that the residents could hear me. I smashed through the last trees, and found myself at the edge of a full-blown town. I didn't take it in for too long, though.
I fired my cannons at two of the largest houses I could quickly see.
"What was that!?" Rainbow Dash shouted in response to the two large explosions outside.
"I don't know; we should-" Twilight was cut off by her house being torn to bits. She heard a strange barking as she pushed herself up. Her ears were ringing, and her eyes bleary, but she clearly saw a giant device rolling past her house.
I hope the Princess gets back soon. Twilight thought.
"Surrender, and the next wave won't kill you all. Hey, you, stay inside!" I fired one of my cannons at a fleeing mute.
I took my hands off the controls and let the VI take over, "These things must not have been designed for battle. Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride in a blood painted sleigh! Jingle-" Something hit my mech significantly, interrupting my jolly song. I swiveled to see what hit me. I saw three large, differently colored mutes standing from where the shot should have come from.
"Skibjork!" The pink one on the left said.
"Nispoc! Feark!" The dark one to the right provided.
"Dojorn!" The middle white one finished. I recognized the white one, which made her a high priority target; I relayed so to the men who were now on their way.
"Surrender or-!" They were clearly designed for battle, because my mech was blown off its treads. I climbed out of the cockpit and prepared my stun rod in my right hand. I leaped onto the overturned mech, and jumped down to confront the mutes directly.
"I don't suppose you speak a proper language?" I asked them.
"Gjord?" The white one responded.
"Good, then I won't feel bad about 'accidentally' using to high of a voltage and hitting you too much." I dialed up my stun rod's voltage to its highest voltage.
The pink one 'fired' its beam; I jumped up.
Round One. FIGHT!
The pink one attacked with a blast from her horn, and I dodged to the right. I ran forward and was on her in a flash; she barely stood a chance. I smashed her head with the stun rod, sending her into spasms; and kicked to my right, hitting the white one and sending it flying. The dark one hit me and launched me a few feet, but I recovered and landed on my feet with ease. Both of the remaining combatants fired at once, but I absorbed the hit with my stun rod.
Did I mention that certain stun rods can "eat" energy, from laser to plasma to solar? And that they can send excess power back? Because they totally fucking can, and I abused that power right at the dark one. I figured it was rather powerful, since it seemed to either kill or knock it out.
Whitey was about to try again, when 16 of my mechs rolled out of the forest and a dozen soldiers jumped off of them and next to me. The white mute hesitated, then lowered its body to the floor submissively. I guess threats travel well through the language barrier.
"Sh-she's surrendering !?" Twilight said in surprise.
"There's no way she could have won, Twilight." Fluttershy said sympathetically.
Twilight shot a death glare at her in return.
"I am no match for you, please spare this town and its inhabitants." Celestia spoke to the creatures humbly.
One of the creatures turned to another and barked something. The other barked a return.
Realization hit Twilight suddenly as the creatures continued barking.
"Girls, Princess Celestia isn't really surrendering!" She said excitedly.
"What do y'ah mean?" Applejack questioned, as she tended to Pinke, who was now semi-conscious.
"She's just distracting them so that we can counter-attack!" Twilight turned to the monsters.
"Ah don't think-" It was too late, Twilight was already careening towards them.
She got about three meters, before being shot down off-handedly. Twilight lost all feeling in her body, as it shut down completely.
"Switch to open talk, let them hear our voices. Give them something to fear, eh?" I suggested to the rest of the men. I heard everybody switch out of the current station, to broadcast.
"So," The black soldier came to me, "can you tell what she's saying?"
"It's probably a surrender, but I don't have the foggiest idea beyond that." I responded.
"Does anyone speak this shit?" He continued. Nobody made themselves known.
"Somebody get a translator, there may be one in one of the mechs. Somebody take care off that mute coming towards us; I think it was one of the intruders, so try not to kill it." I didn't need to look to hear her clopping getting louder as she approached. There was a blast and I heard her fall, as well as the surrendered mute's yell. I backhanded it and put my stun rod in its face. Threats carry well through all languages.
There was a noticeable wave of anger that spread through the town upon my strike of the white.
"Look, they're getting angry. Looks like this mute made some friends!" I joked to the others.
"Hey, I have an idea; watch this." A soldier of average build stepped up to the mute. He repeatedly slapped it back and forth, for awhile, then slapped her to the ground. The response of yells was rather entertaining to the men.
"Okay, enough fooling around, looks like we've got a translator." I acknowledged the soldier carrying a large white ball. I took it from him and put it in front of our capture. It offered no recognition of the device, so I made puppet movements with my hands. It seemed to understand, because it started blabbering into it. I patted her on the head, and turned to the men.
"Well? Secure the place!" I motioned to the angry denizens of the city.
As the soldiers and mechs spread out, I went back over to the mute and asked, "You understand me yet?
She looked up at me, confused. "You... speak us?"
"No, that does," I pointed at the translator, "but it's clear it's not doing a good job. Tell it your life story, try to use varied words. I'm beginning to have some doubts about you and your language, it would be in your interest to work off of those; but I'll abandon them immediately and make sure nothing survives in this town if you give me reason."
The first exchange between our races was a threat that was probably lost in translation.
A soldier walked up to me from a street in the city holding a clipboard and said, "We're having a bit of trouble with some of the residents, no casualties on our side. There has been some uh... dispute about how much force should be used."
"Subdue them, keep them conscious, and show them one of our captures. Hit your hands threateningly and prepare your stun rod, that should send a clear message. If that doesn't work... well, betting to see how many plasma blasts something will survive is one of the most popular past times. Make sure the residents can participate." I responded.
"Yes, sir." He turned around and walked back to the street, where he was picked up by a mech
I switched to a direct link with the guys at HQ, "We need something to transport our prisoners. We've got three here that need moving, and they're not exactly small. Also, only one is awake."
"You-" They began.
"Thanks!" I switched back to broadcast.
I walked to the mute, "We're taking you and two of your friends to our base, depending on how popular they are."
"What?" She responded.
"You're popular with the things here; are any of your buddies here as popular as you?"
"The 'things' are my citizens. My sister may not be as popular, but she is more well known and loved than Cadence, or my student Twilight Sparkle."
"Yeah, you're going to have to specify who any of those fucking people are."
"The purple one is my sister, Luna, the dark one is Twilight, and the pink one is my student Cadence." She lied to me.
"You tripped over your lie. I think we'll just take all of you and beat anyone here who opposes us. We'll beat the truth out of you, and your friends as well."
The secure transport vehicle arrived through the pre-made clearing. It looked like a giant, white, reinforced box on wheels; about four meters tall and six wide. I walked over to the unconscious pile, which the men had been throwing together, and grabbed a certain three from it.
"Get on the thing or we'll make you." I kicked on the mech' s square door in the center.
"What are-" it stood up.
"It would make my men's day for you to make them, and ruin yours." I interrupted.
It walked slowly onto the mobile box; I threw in its buddies after it. I tried to hit it with the bodies, and, from the grunt and thunk, I think I succeeded.
I hopped on top of Snake' s heaven, and told the driver to get out. When prompted with an unsatisfactory response, I politely and reasonably threw him out of the mech with a choice selection of words about his mother. He tried to rebuke, but I guess I had gained popularity, because a soldier pushed his face into the dirt with his heel.
With the cockpit now vacant, I made myself comfortable. All mechs drive in a rather similar way, so I was confident in driving the glorified crate, despite never having done so before.
Zitra was not happy. As the unofficial local organizer, she was charged with ensuring the safety of a bunch of new muted, and those around them.
With two guys and a locked door.
So basically, she was a scapegoat if anything bad happened.
She respected the soldier for his bravery and command in dire times, but not his interrogation planning. Bring the most powerful mutes to their top-secret, undermanned outpost? That can't go wrong, let's do it!
The unnatural lack of din in The Centre bugged her as she leaned back in her chair and sighed. At least he was doing better than any other leader had in the last 200 years.
Except one.
She shook her head to clear the thought, and put a call through comm, "How much longer?"
"Couple of minutes. Is your security force ready?" Somebody responded.
"'Security force'? I don't have any fucking thing. I've tried to prepare a couple of idiots for this specific task, though. Mostly a formality, because fuck you, but they're there." She responded concisely.
"Supposedly they were easily subdued-" They began.
"Yeah, they fell asleep halfway through our first simulation."
"No, they-"
"Page me when they get here." Zitra hung up on the comm guy.
She began leaning in her chair again when she heard a door about 25 meters away open, and somebody walk through it. "I'm right here, you git! You can't just hang up on me!" The comm guy shouted.
Zitra got up and walked up to him. She pushed him back through the door and locked it.
She walked back to her chair, and got back to being annoyed. There wasn't even a real leader, just that military guy, and a junta is not what they need...
I hopped out of the hollow rectangle, and opened the door into it. This was not a popular move in the garage lacking any readily armed soldiers of merit.
Very bad for their pants,I assume, but I didn't bother wasting time reassuring them.
I walked into the mech, grabbed the pile, and called for the conscious one to follow. I calmly walked through the exit, and headed for the predetermined interrogation room/broom closet.
Two minutes later, I was pressing a button to open an armored make-out room with one hand, and tossing in a pile with the other. I didn't need to indicate that that was where It needed to be.
I closed the door behind It, and heard a- not an exotic, but accented female voice behind me, "If you go in there, only three people will be there to help you out."
I turned around and put my hand on her shoulder, "I have the utmost confidence in my ability."
I walked into the room.
Operation: Frozen Prophet
Year 2216, Operation: Frozen Prophet Briefing
"As you all know," General Johnson, a stocky white man with graying hair, began, "the world is facing revolutionists that believe the entire human race must be wiped out to save the planet."
We were in a large room filled with about 1000 people. The walls were low and grey, the General was standing on a small stage speaking into a microphone. The room was dimly lit by some overhanging lights that belonged in a schoolroom.
"Although their objective is clear, they have no definitive name," Johnson continued, "but I'm sure all of you know all about how they're destroying major cities and wiping out governments, so let me sum up our situation in a few words." Johnson looked at the crowd intently. "The world's fucked."
"We know that already!" A voice from the crowd yelled, "so why the hell are we here!?"
"Good question," Johnson smiled, "you're here to be frozen and sent to the future."
"Wha-"
"Please, allow me to elaborate. You see, we've discovered the secret to almost indefinitely freeze any human being. Our plan is to freeze all of you and wake you up when our planet is easily habitable by humans. We'll be doing this with advanced technologies that, frankly, shouldn't much matter to you.
"When the coast is clear, you will all be released to rebuild human society, but better. You see, all of you have lost a loved one to the poor environment, or the terrorists, our hope is that you will teach these things to your children, so that nothing like this can ever happen again. Any questions?"
About 600 hands flew up.
"Well they'll all be answered by the instructional videos you'll be watching. Any one who does not wish to be frozen will be allowed to leave. For now, however, you will all prepare for the future."
