Chapter 2: Orientation

Hannock woke up the next morning to his alarm and found a piece of paper on his bedside table. It was a summons from the team leader, X-Ray. It read, Report to East Launch Chamber by 06:30, no later. He got up and dressed himself. The clothes in his locker were interesting, but he couldn’t figure out what they were for, or when they had gotten there. There was one that looked any normal combat fatigues, boxed shades of similar color meant to hide you among your environment. Another one had three colors organized around it, almost like it was just meant to look cool rather than be camouflage. It was black, red, and blue. The three male teams’ colors. There was also a uniform with each other team’s color along with black. He wondered if the teams ever came together for anything. There was one more interesting one. It was mostly black and gray with what looked to be a mountain tessellation around it and the number 25 on the shoulder. He found a uniform that was the same as the ones the soldiers had been wearing on Recruitment Day. He figured this was probably the main uniform for the team seeing as how it was all black and he was a part of “Black Team”. He put it on and made his way out of the barracks.

He noticed other soldiers that he didn’t recognize milling about. They were probably older soldiers, some who had already been on the team since the previous year. He didn’t really understand the ranking system there yet. He guessed he would learn it over time. However, more pressing matters were at hand. How was he going to find the “East Launch Chamber”, whatever that was? He had been in the base for six months but it was only for cadet training. He never actually left the cadet center during that time; he wasn’t allowed to. He imagined that “Launch Chamber” might mean where the soldiers link into the training area. Seeing as how this base didn’t seem equipped to launch rockets or missile silos, launch could only mean a few things. Even if he was right, he still didn’t know how he was going to find the place. He decided to go up to one of the groups of veteran soldiers and ask them where it was.

“Excuse me,” He started.

“What’s up, Newbie?” One soldier sneered.

He gave no reaction to the condescension, it was what they wanted anyway. “Would one of you, kind souls, point me in the direction of the ‘Launch Chamber’? I’ve been summoned there by the leader and I’ve never been there.”

A different soldier looked at him, “Yeah, just leave the barracks and go into that main room where all the doors to the other barracks are. Then take a right and go through the front of the room. Which chamber were you summoned to?”

“The East one.”

“Alright, then take a right again once you enter the hallway through that door. Also,” the soldier leaned closer to Hannock and whispered, “You can ignore that guy, he’s just being a dick. I like your moxie though, don’t take that kind of crap from anyone.”

“Thanks, I suppose.”

The soldier nodded and left him alone. With that, Hannock left the room and followed the directions that soldier had given him. Made a right after leaving the barracks, and a right again after entering the launch chambers’ hallway. He continued through the long hallway. He thought it would just lead directly into the East Chamber but it just kept going. He looked down at his watch. He still wasn’t late. He found the watch in the closet with all of his uniforms, along with a few other pieces of equipment he was sure he would need in the future. He would have to ask X-Ray later what all those other uniforms were about.

He found the chamber and saw almost nothing at first. It seemed like an empty room. Then his eyes actually kicked in and he noticed the walls were lined with pods as well as large pillar in the center of the room that had pods surrounding it as well. He saw X-Ray standing at the pillar, checking one the pods as if inspecting it.

He called out, “Reporting in, Sir!”

“Good, wait there for the others.”

Others? He thought he was the only one summoned to be there that morning. Who else needed to be seen? He also realized he had no idea what he and the others were even being summoned for. In cadet training, he had basically learned how the trainers there thought and he could usually predict what he would be summoned for. However, here, he had no idea. He had only known X-Ray for a day, and he hadn’t even talked with him that long. Well, he was about to find out what was going on.

Within the timeframe of only a few minutes, the “others” made their way into the chamber. The others were the other cadets that had just been recruited with him. Now he understood what was happening. This was some sort of initiation or orientation for the new guys. It was probably going to be explaining how things worked on the team, the expectations, the rules. They would probably be given some starting, demeaning roles on the team and have to earn their place and whatnot. That was what he thought, until X-Ray spoke.

“Listen, I know what you’re thinking. This is just some ‘Welcome to the team’, ‘Hope you enjoy your stay’ bullshit like that. Well I’m here to put those rumors to rest. I am not going to try and sugar coat this. For the next week, I am going to put you through Hell and try my hardest to break you. Any drill sergeant can break your bodies in one-day flat. I am going to break your mind. I choose the mind because trauma is the one thing that can make any soldier useless faster than any bullet could hope to. And I want my soldiers to be able to handle any situation that is thrown at them without breaking down like some hormonal teenage girl. If you freeze when the bullets start flying, then you just make yourself a fixed target for their end and another statistic on my end.”

That stupefied everyone right away. No one was expecting something like that. They thought the molding during cadet training was their break-and-rebuild experience. Now they have no idea what to say. Was he joking? Was he over exaggerating? They just looked at the man who seemed to have replaced the laid-back, respectful man that they met only the day before. Now standing before them was something almost sinister. X-Ray showed not even the slightest hint of enjoyment or displeasure. None of them could tell what he was thinking. If he was happy about that? If he felt sorry for them? They didn’t know.

Finally, one of the recruits asked him, “Are you serious? I thought that was the point of our cadet training. You know. So we would enter a team already prepared to fight.”

“Fair enough,” replied X-Ray, “If any one of you can beat me in a hand-to-hand combat match right now, I’ll let you all skip this torture.”

“What?” replied the recruit.

“You said you’re prepared to fight. So show me.”

“And if none of us can?”

“Then I’ll just continue as planned. I see no reason for there to always be a losing condition.”

And with that, everyone seemed hopeful for a moment. Just a moment. Then it all dawned on them that the leader of the team was offering to fight one of the cadets and that he wasn’t planning on losing. They talked it over and decided that Hannock should go fight him. He was the top in hand-to-hand combat so if he couldn’t do it then no one could. They all agreed there would be no hard feelings if Hannock lost. Hannock agreed to fight him and stepped up, accepting his challenge. Upon hearing the acceptance, X-Ray put his arms up. Hannock thought they would go into the training area to hold this match. Once he realized it was on, Hannock put his arms up too. The two of them circled each other for a while, neither of them making a move.

“A win will be decided by whoever takes the other down and controls them,” X-Ray said, his eyes barely even blinking as spoke.

“Understood,” replied Hannock

They stared each other down for a moment longer. Then, as if a needle had hit the floor, X-Ray finally lunged at him. All of a sudden, everything froze around Hannock. Everything seemed slow but he could see it and perceive it at the same speed that he always could. He could see X-Ray going for an elbow strike using the twist of his shoulder. He moved out of the way and everything went back to normal speed. He didn’t have time to understand what had happened before X-Ray turned to strike again. This time, Hannock was ready. He prepared himself for the next strike and was ready to block and control him to end the fight. He just needed to take him down. That was it. Take him down and it was over. X-Ray threw a front-hand punch directly at Hannock’s face. It was a little high, going right for his eyes. Once again, it was slow. He could easily see it. This was it. He would grab his hand and bring him to the ground in a simple wristlock. As he reached for his hand, he started falling. His feet were in the air and he fell flat on his back. Quickly, a hand was on his neck and he couldn’t move. He had no idea what had just happened. He saw X-Ray punching. It was so clear and the only thing in his vision. Vision! That was it. X-Ray noticed that Hannock could see what he was doing before he could hit him so he blocked his vision with something he knew that Hannock would focus on. While he was distracted, he went down and swept his feet out from under him. That was incredible. Now Hannock understand why this was the leader of the team. Not because he was relaxed, not because he was tough, but because he was smart. He took one instance in a fight and used it to learn how to beat his opponent. That was amazing, but also terrifying.

X-Ray stood up, “I think we can agree that I won,” he said.

Hannock was still stunned, but managed to get out a few words, “Yes, Sir.”

“Now then, as promised, you will all begin with your initiation. Your first challenge is awaiting you in the training area.”

Your first challenge is awaiting you… Of course, he had it ready because he knew he wouldn’t lose to a bunch of newbies. It just continued to show how far ahead this man thought. He expected the fight to happen, which explains why he immediately suggested it. However, it felt like there was another reason he chose that scenario other than just putting new recruits in their place. The recruits accepted their fate and went over to the pods.

“Gentleman, since I haven’t given you a proper introduction to where you are or what you’re doing, I feel I must. Welcome to the fruits of Project Shadow. This base that you are in is one of one-hundred throughout the country. Every base is equipped with two of these rooms just as we are. You have experience with these pods from the cadet center I’m guessing. But, to help you understand what this is, I’m going to explain it a little better than your training officers did. This device here,” he placed his hand on one of the pods, “is a neuro-digital link to the infinite worlds of Project Shadow. This device, when activated, will send neurotransmitters to the GABA_B and Glycine receptors in your brain. These will activate the REM sleep instance in your body that paralyzes all of your muscles to prevent you from acting out your dreams. It has a similar purpose here. When you are in the virtual world here, you will have fake sense signals being sent back to your brain to simulate reality. When you move your body, you will send real signals from your brain to your body. This device will read and copy the signals into digital code and send it to your virtual avatar. The signals are copied, not blocked, which is the purpose of the REM sleep paralyses being activated. The reason we do it this way rather than simply blocking the signals is for safety. If the wrong signal is copied by the device in a glitch and sent to the avatar, then nothing will happen. If the wrong signal is accidentally blocked by a glitch, for example a signal that tells the heart to beat or the lungs to breathe, then you could die,” he continued on, not missing a beat. He had clearly given this same speech many times, “This system uses a physics engine that uses the exact numbers and equations for every event that occurs within our reality. Designed by a physics genius, this world simulates ours down to the atom. The environment around you will break and burn as it would here. Your body will get tired and be able to break. And you will believe everything you see. If your friend dies. If your leg breaks. If you lose everything. You’ll believe it all.”

Did he seriously say this to all of his new recruits every year? How did he keep any of them? All of them thought the same thing. They were all ready to bail on the whole thing. Then, as if on cue, X-Ray said one more thing.

“If any of you wish to quit, then do so right now. Any who stay will be accepted as part of our team and will have earned my respect.”

This made all of them stop for a second. No one wanted to be the first to quit, and hearing that they would earn the respect of the leader and be accepted only made them want to go through with whatever he had in store for them. This was one of X-Ray’s most dangerous skills. His ability to negotiate without giving up any ground. To get what he wanted without losing anything he already had. They all looked at each other to see if anyone was going to leave. Of course, no one did.

Finally, as if they had all decided he would be the one to say it, Hannock looked at X-Ray and said, no, stated, “We’re ready, bring on your worst.”

X-Ray smiled. He didn’t usually hear this answer and was interested to see how that would play out, “Very well, the worst shall be brought.” He said, still with that sinister aura about him, but this time, it seemed more like the sinister aura of a coach that wanted to bring out your best, not the aura of a monster who wanted to make you suffer.

The first challenge required the recruits to enter the neuro-link pods. They knew how to situate themselves in it and how to activate it from back in cadet training. They all fixated themselves in the machine and set up their separate devices for link. Once they were all ready, they each launched the device. Hannock felt the familiar feeling of falling asleep when he launched the neuro-link.