Genon
Baron Awesomesauce the Magnificent
- Location
- Neptune
Phonos sat on a hard bench in the Humanoid Robot Storage Garrison. A barracks for beings like himself. The bigger ones went to the motor pool, but everything smaller went here. Robots, even those working for OMEGA, didn't get much in the way of amenities. They didn't need them. There was ventilation, but that was only in case humans needed to get inside. Otherwise, there were no beds, no running water, and no bathrooms. There were plenty of charging stations, but E-115 power supplies were common among OMEGA robots now, so they were rarely used.
But the spartan nature of the room he was in was the last thing on his CPU. His smartphone, hooked up to his UCIP port, displayed an image on his HUD. It was a recruitment poster he had recieved in an email. Something called the Fifth World Foreign Legion. Reviewing the contents, he realized that he might just be looking at the most important document in Earth's history. If this Foreign Legion was real and not just an elaborate attempt at phishing, then there was a conflict brewing that could make OMEGA's war effort against the alien invaders look like two schoolchildren fighting in their playground!
As if she could sense Phonos' shock, a full-body cyborg approached him. Her name was Anna, and she was a Xenoborg. The Xenoplasms were one of the few friendly and intelligent alien species...well, when they evolved fully that is. They began life as shapeless blobs that could do little more than eat all immobile biomass in the surrounding environment, but give them a few hours and they could manipulate their environment on the level of a crow. Put them in the company of humans for a few weeks and they'll begin talking on your level. Give them a few months and they'll likely consider themselves honorary humans. However, they were still shapeless blobs, so OMEGA developed cybernetic bodies for them to inhabit. "Anna" was in one of those bodies.
The xenoborg asked at an extremely fast pace, "Hey, what's up? Did you find out something interesting? Tell me tell me tell me!" Xenoplasms had various personalities, but Anna was the most hyperactive member of her species Phonos had ever seen. It was rather disturbing when put in contrast with what she did on the battlefield.
"Yeah," Phonos replied. "I seem to have gotten a recruitment request from an interdimensional army. That, or someone's trying to play a prank on me."
With that, Anna's excitement multiplied. "Hand me your wire, I need to see this!" she practically squealed. Phonos complied, taking the wire plugged into a port on his chassis and handing it over as she plugged it into her own UNIP port. Observing the flier, her excitement died down a bit as she realized it was just a poster. "So, what're you gonna do about it?" she asked the ex-assassin.
"Tell the higher-ups, obviously. If this is real, OMEGA can't not investigate. If that means I have to take the offer, so be it. The boss needs to see this. The implications of other universes--and multiversal threats--are enormous." Or it could be a trap, he thought, but I'm expendable anyway. If the boss wanted me to clear a minefield with my boot, I would have to comply. And besides, I'm backed-up. Anything happens to me, I'll just get rebuilt.
Phonos got up to leave. He stopped near the doorway, his neck turning 180 degrees to help him talk to her. "And by the way, Anna, I really do appreciate you visiting the robot barracks. I know you could be in a much better part of the base right now, and it gets lonely with all the non-Turings around here."
"Don't mention it," Anna replied in her typical chipper voice. "I tend to get along best with robots anyway. It's why I became a combat engineer!"
"Well, I'm off. See you," Phonos said as the automatic door closed behind him.
Phonos didn't have to go far, however, when a voice announced on the underground base's PA system, "Will Specialist Phonos please come to Commander Hutchinson's office immediately?"
Picking up speed, Phonos immediately headed to the office in question. Knocking on the door, Hutchinson opened it. The commander was a fairly old man, with gray hair, an eyepatch signaling his combat experience, and a very manly mustache that made Phonos wish he could grow facial hair if only to try and get a mustache with even a fraction of this one's majesty. Noteworthy is that the Commander only wore a jumpsuit with no rank or insignia visible. It was a quirk of OMEGA, perhaps owing to their penchant for secrecy.
"Ah, Phonos. Come in, I've been expecting you," the commander said upon seeing Phonos in his fatigues. Phonos did so, noting the comfort of the cushioned seat. It wasn't something he experienced often. "So, it has come to my attention that these recruitment posters--" he produced a paper copy from his desk, "Have been appearing all over the base. You know of this, correct?"
"I actually just received an image of one via email," Phonos replied. "Anna saw it too. I thought that I was the only one who got it."
"As expected," Hutchinson responded, "These posters only began appearing half an hour ago. They popped into existence on walls, in soldiers' email accounts, as text messages, the works, and the weirdest part is that they're nearly indestructible. Watch." He attempted to crumple up the paper, only for it to offer so much resistance that he had to give up after a few seconds. "When folding it, there's no problem, but it seems to resist crumpling. Weirder still, if you throw one in the trash, it reappears in the location it spawned in."
Phonos tilted his head, "Spawned, sir?" That was an odd expression for someone of his age to use.
Hutchinson laughed, saying, "You forget that video games were around in my youth. I've played a few, trust me." His face and voice then turned deadly serious. "Now as to why I selected you. You're not only one of our more successful members, you have a strong moral compass and a fierce loyalty to OMEGA. We used to deal with only interplanetary threats, Phonos. Now we see that there are threats that can strike not only on an interplanetary scale, but on an multiversal scale. It is our responsibility to protect humanity from threats they cannot understand, and if this Fifth World Foreign Legion is real, then they are much like us, but vastly, vastly bigger, more technologically-advanced, and far more dangerous. And their enemies are perhaps even more deadly than the threats we face on a daily basis."
"If they are really as friendly as they claim, then we are duty-bound to send our grunts and agents to assist. If they are actually hostile, then it's worth sending someone who has as strong a loyalty as you do to gather information on them while posing as one of their own. And thus, I am ordering you to take the recruitment request and render assistance to them in any way you can, but I also want you to keep OMEGA's interests in mind while you do so. Take notes, gather information, and determine if they are a threat."
"Understood sir. When should I leave and what should I bring with me?"
"You are to leave within the hour. Bring as many possessions as you think you need, you likely won't come back for a very long time. You will also be outfitted with our best gear."
As he said this, a set of papers appeared on the table in a flash of light. "Uh...alright, that was odd. Still, not the weirdest thing to happen today," Hutchinson asked with surprise in his voice.
"They look like recruitment papers. Odd way of delivery though," Phonos noted with bemusement in his voice. Nevertheless, he spent the next few minutes supplying the desired information to the best of his ability.
And that was how, fifty-five minutes later, he found himself armed to the teeth and standing at a bus stop erected in the Mojave Desert. With no roads nearby. The harsh desert air whipped at his metal frame as he sat on the bench. An hour later, a an army transport vehicle appeared through what appeared to be a portal of some kind. At this point, he had stopped caring about the bizarre occurrences and took a seat, the voluptuous driver tipping her cowboy hat (?) to him as he entered.
"So," Phonos said to the only other passenger, taking off his full-face helmet as the truck sped off and holding out a hand for her to shake, "The name's Phonos. What's yours?"
