I awoke with a start, fans racing, the temperature too high, trapped. Something was holding me down, something. My limbs weren't working. He was right there, I just have to be faster this time, I just have to move, just a bit faster, just a bit farther another step. Why couldn't I just be faster? Why was I so far away? He trusted us, and I was so far away...
I just needed to take another step, but I felt heavy, sinking, trapped, trapped, t͜r̢app͢e͏ḑ, t̵̷́r͘͟͝a̸̴͝p͜p͝e̸͘d̷, t̷͢ŕá͜͏̸p̵̵p̡e̷̕d̶̨͟͡,҉̶͟--------------
A problem has been detected and the system has been shut down to prevent damage to your mind.
The problem seems to be caused by the following file: LNGTRM_MMRY.SYS
MEMORY_ACCES_CASCADE_INFINITE_LOOP
If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart as normal. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:
Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is the first thing you've seen, please do not panic: Someone will be there for you, and they are working on the problem right now.
If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Request to be taken to an engineer if you are able. If you need to use Safe Mode in order to boot, restart, select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.
Technical Information:
*** STOP: DSM-5 309.81 (F43.10)
*** LNGTRM_MMRY.SYS - DateStamp 1602735729
It's always strange, being here. That sudden, sharp transition to the out of body experience, all sensory input gone, just the words in the void. But more than out of body, out of mind, feeling as though all the emotions, the panic, the out-of-placeness is happening to somebody else, somebody
over there who you both are and are not. Like taking a step back out of your own soul.
Automatically, by reflex, I selected
reboot.
---
None of what I felt was real.
None of it. It was just a memory playing out of sequence. That's all dreams were, memories out of sequence, meaningless nonsense. We had them because humans had them, because when you got down to it our brains were just theirs rendered in silicon, tweaked and programmed and suspended in a carefully constructed operating system. Just circuits tripping randomly as I slept.
That means it didn't have to matter. It wasn't real. Just don't think about it, and it'll be okay. The last pangs of panic started to fade, the emotion running out of me like sand from an hourglass.
I propped myself up on the pillow slightly, taking in the room, remembering where I was. It wasn't the NCO's barracks because I was an officer now, this was my room at Number 18. It was warm because it was August and the fireplace was on, a weak pink, and…
Because there was a person in bed with me. A woman, still half-curled around me in an embrace. Gently, I traced her face with my finger, still feeling a bit strangely detached. Probably take a few minutes before I felt like me.
Battery was at 94%. I felt alert and awake, but I didn't particularly feel a need to get up. I had leave until noon, so there was no point in rushing, and a very great reason to stay. I settled back and waited, and she curled sleepily around me, nestled up close.
I drifted off again, slowly, at some point. I think it was the first time in my life I've ever slept in. No dreams this time.
I was awoken by a hand on my arm jostling me lightly, and the first thing I saw was Miriam standing over me, her face concerned. I checked my system clock: 10:14:44.
"My apologies, miss, but leave's been cancelled. They're sending for all the officers." she said. "You need to get going."
"Figures. Nice of them to let us sleep in. Can you give me a minute?"
She nodded and left quickly, and I turned to Beatrice, waking her as gently as I could. She blinked into awareness and gripped me, trying to pull me closer.
"Hey there, miss lieutenant. Morning." she said, a suggestive edge to her voice. "Any plans for the day?"
… I can't believe it, but for just an instant, I'd rather have stayed in bed then go to work. It passed quickly, though.
"I'm sorry, they're calling the officers. Only reason they would is if we had an emergency of some kind. I may be gone on deployment before the end of the day." I explained. She just nodded, wide-eyed.
"O-okay."
"I'm very sorry, really. But in all likelihood, it will be short, and I'll be back within the month. When I do, would you care to meet me for another date? Something a bit more reasonable." I asked. I figured a short deployment was a safe bet: the 9th Company was still drastically undertrained, making it unlikely it'd be placed on any sort of long-term garrison after the initial action was finished.
"I'd like that. Now go get 'em, lieutenant." she said, beaming. "Whoever they are."
I rolled out of bed, hunting for my uniform. It was a bit… crumpled all over the floor everywhere, but that was fine. I'd be presentable enough, hopefully.
"I'm just about to find out."
---
"Stars, Fusie, how are you looking so sharp?" Beckham asked, looking particularly unshaving and squinting at the light outside the headquarters window. "Probably got up at five on the dot like usual, huh?"
"That's right. You could learn a thing or two." I commented, taking a seat next to him. The meeting room had two tables and could seat about twenty-five, which was more than enough for all the non-ensign officers of the regiment, even now while it was nominally at full strength. We were effectively missing four companies on various deployments, so the room seemed a little empty.
"I'd rather not, actually." he said, sipping his tea and wincing. "Wouldn't have drank so much if I knew there was going to be a whole thing."
"You and me both." Major Gaynestown complained gruffly from the other table. "Good party though."
A moment later, everyone seated, Lieutenant Colonel Harrison came in, followed by a staff captain I didn't recognize who took a seat next to him at the head of the main table.
"Right, so sorry to interrupt everyone's leave, but this is something of an emergency as you may have guessed. This is Captain Green from the Lieutenant General's staff, she'll take us through it."
"Thank you, Captain. In short: an archeological dig on a planet called llomia J3H has rather upset something that is armed and very dangerous. We have only limited information, as this was relayed directly to the station by interstellar signal light last night, but we have reason to believe the threat is more significant than some territorial wildlife."
"Never heard of llomia J3H. Where's that?" Lieutenant Turner asked.
"Well, that's problem one. It's very close. About twelve parsecs spinward and south." she said. I tried to recall a map of the local stars, though it was all very blurry in my head, but Kennedy perked up.
"Well, that's awful close to… everything, isn't it?" she said, "That's maybe forty parsecs from Earth, nevermind everything else. Right in the heart of our space."
"Yes, that's part of the concern."
"How'd we miss something so bloody close to Earth this long?" Beckham said, looking astonished. "You figure somebody would have taken a peek."
"It's not a terribly exciting planet." Captain Green said, "It was a barony for about a decade in the early 2000s before it reverted to being crown land, and then it was declared a Royal Preserve for its ecological diversity. There's been some wildlife expeditions and the like over the years, but in the last decade or so it's been a fixture of interest for some explorative societies due to some geographical similarities to some frontier worlds. A xenoarcheologist named Joseph Parlow applied for permission to conduct a series of digs on the planet, and he is the one who sent the signal, claiming he was under attack by an alien force."
"In other words, as usual, some egghead's got himself in trouble and we have to go bail him out." Lt. Col Harrison said, and Captain Green nodded.
"In essence, yes, but there is a wrinkle. Mister Parlow's interest in the planet stems from his belief that a long-forgotten civilization built a series of transportation gates across their former colonies, and his last reports before his distress signal indicate that he thought he'd found one. Needless to say, if there's a backdoor into the heart of human civilization which has just been attacked, that represents something of an existential security risk. The 7th is the closest unit not based in the capital, which means yours are the first boots to make landfall."
"Stars…" Murray muttered beside me, and the mood in the room matched it.
"In all likelihood, Mister Parlow has just found a very interesting species of predator. But we can't exactly take that risk. The entire unit will be rush deployed on two sail transports, escorted by the
HMS Edinburgh. We expect you gone by sundown." Captain Green finished, nodding to the Lieutenant Colonel.
"Right, simple as that. Get your men in order, square away your business, and be ready to move. It's a short hop if the wind holds, and I'd like to not take too long."
---
Preparing for deployment is always a little surreal. Even by the standards of my fellows I led a frugal life, so I never had anything to pack or store away except the basics. And now I didn't even have to worry about that, because when I got back to Number 18 after passing the orders to the section, Miriam was waiting with a bag over her shoulder. Beatrice had taken a cab back home, I'd just missed her.
I made sure to write off a quick note thanking her for a wonderful night, dropping it at the post station on my way to the field where the first ranks of red were already lining up for inspection. The base was always busy, but the eruption of activity really put into stark relief the sheer number of machines that operated here. Not just the soldiers, but the contractors buzzing about moving equipment, driving wagons, rushing to and fro with paperwork. A wagon rolled by on dreadnought wheels stacked high with field batteries.
On the near side of the field, Lieutenant Kennedy was wrangling a small knot of traffic to line everything up, the sound of buzzing and whining electric engines carrying over the field. I decided to stray a bit closer to see what was wrong, trying to glance past the vehicles to where she was standing and pointing furiously. Her battery had sixteen horses, nearly as many as the rest of the company put together: four enormous dreadnought tractors towing munition wagons, half a dozen tracked motorcycles serving the gravitic cannons, an equal number of hovering bicycles for moving the flying guns.
Unsurprisingly, that was the trouble: one of the bikes was hanging in the air at an angle, dust flaring in all directions from a shorted repulsor, and nobody could seem to shift the thing without it snapping back into place. Right in the way of everything, blue-coated artillery machines were swarming over it, trying to shut it off. Kennedy was standing atop one of the wagons, attempting to bring order to the chaos.
"Lovely morning, Lieutenant!" I called sardonically, and she turned with a snap.
"Fuck these stupid things, Dora! I want my lightning guns back!" she announced angrily, kicking something on the wagon in frustration.
"Didn't the War Ministry declare them too unsafe to use?" I asked. They had a slight problem of arcing to things other than their targets. Things like the ionized air from an officer's force screen.
"The War Ministry can suck a dick and
choke!" she declared, jumping down from the wagon. "Milly, get my pistol, I'm shooting the damn thing down!"
I suddenly felt a slight bit foolish about my insistence on how officers should speak. I was about halfway to the 9th Company's grounds when I heard a crash behind me and a cheer from the assembled machines. That was fine, probably.
Captain Murray had the company turned out in good order shortly thereafter, our two supply wagons and contractors waiting behind. We were still behind everyone else, but in position in time for the Lt. Colonel to ride by for inspection. Kennedy wasn't so lucky, with machines still clustered about trying to fix the stricken hovercycle.
"As long as we don't need the guns to move, we'll be fine, I think." Beckham muttered to me.
Unsurprisingly, we were then told there was a delay with the transports, and everyone sat in the grass for another hour and a half before we marched out of the base toward the docks. It was always surreal, reaching the edge of the station where the illusion of it as a slice of planetary surface broke down with a great steel wall, ringed by the rail lines that moved goods around and into the city. The unit marched through the doors there into the long airlock umbilicals, marching four-across into the gangway and into the ship, our wagons and artillery pieces disappearing behind them.
Murray had to grab my shoulder to remind me not to go into the hold with the troops. We were instead guided up another way into the rear portions of the transport (the
RFA Bishopdale). I'd been aboard transport ships before, of course, but never had cause to stray to the officer's area, and the difference between the spare accommodations of the troop section, sleeping three deep in hammocks in a forest of power cables, and the attempts replicating in miniature human luxuries back here.
To be honest, I still somewhat missed the hold. The sense of comradery.
The officers (our ship had members of 3rd, 7th, 9th and Skirmish Company) were brought to the captain's office to meet him and do the usual socializing that seemed to make up most of my job, and I was surprised to see not a human face, but a machine officer, blue coat and light blue facings of the Navy Auxiliary. He perked up at seeing me, making a beeline for me.
"Well, they're letting machines be officers in the Army now, are they?" he asked, clapping me on the shoulder as we shook hands. "How'd this happen?"
"Part of a pilot program, captain. We're on-track for phasing out humans entirely by 2200." I joked, and we shared a laugh which was nervously echoed by my fellow officers.
"Right, well, while you're still here, you have the run of the ship, ladies and gentlemen. I'll ask you stay out of the way of the sailors if they're busy, but otherwise, make yourself at home, and three days hence we'll have you evicted, if the winds hold." he said.
Three days… I could hardly wait.
