The Fall of Reach h-1 Page 4

  John threw himself on the ground.

  “The first crewmen who quits,” Mendez said, “gets to run around the compound twice—and then comes back here and does two hundred sit ups. Ready... count off! One... two... three... .”

  Deep squats followed. Then knee bends.

  John threw up, but that didn’t buy him any respite. A trainer descended on him after a few seconds. John rolled back over and continued.

  “Leg lifts.” Mendez continued like he was a machine. As if they all were machines.

  John couldn’t go on—but he knew he’d get the baton again if he stopped. He tried; he had to move. His legs trembled and only sluggishly responded.

  “Rest,” Mendez finally called. “Trainers: get the water.”

  The trainers wheeled out carts laden with water bottles. John grabbed one and gulped down the liquid. It was warm and slightly salty. He didn’t care. It was the best water he’d ever had.

  He flopped on his back in the grass and panted.

  The sun was up now. It was warm. He rolled to his knees and let the sweat drip off him like a heavy rain.

  He slowly got up and glanced at the other children. They crouched on the ground, holding their sides, and no one talked. Their clothes were soaked through with perspiration. John didn’t recognize anyone from his school here.

  So he was alone with strangers. He wondered where his mother was, and what—

  “A good start, trainees,” Mendez told them. “Now we run. On your feet!”

  The trainers brandished their batons and herded the trainees along. They jogged down a gravel path through the compound, past more cinderblock barracks. The run seemed to go on forever—they ran alongside a river, over a bridge, then by the edge of a runway where jets took off straight into the air. Once past the runway, Mendez led them on a zigzagging path of stone.

  John wanted to think about what had happened, how he got here, and what was going to happen next... but he couldn’t think straight. All he could feel was the blood pounding through him, the ache in his muscles, and hunger.

  They ran into a courtyard of smooth flagstones. A pole in the center flew the colors of the UNSC, a blue field with stars and Earth in the corner. At the far end of the yard was a building with a scalloped dome and white columns and dozens of wide steps leading to the entrance. The words NAVAL OFFICERS ACADEMY were chiseled into the arch over the entrance.

  A woman stood on the top step and beckoned to them. She wore a white sheet wrapped around her body. She looked old to John, yet young at the same time. Then he saw the motes of light orbiting her head and knew she was an AI. He had seen them on vids. She wasn’t solid, but she was still real.

  “Excellent work, Chief Petty Officer Mendez,” she said in a resonant, silk-smooth voice. She turned to the children. “Welcome. My name is Déjà and I will be your teacher. Please come in. Class is about to start.”

  John groaned out loud. Several of the others grumbled, too.

  She turned and started to walk inside. “Of course,” she said, “if you prefer to skip your lessons, you may continue the morning calisthenics.”

  John double-timed it up the steps.

  It was cool inside. A tray with crackers and a carton of milk had been laid out for each of them. John nibbled on the dry stale food, then gulped down his milk.

  John was so tired he wanted to lay his head down on the desk and take a nap—until Déjà started to tell them about a battle and how three hundred soldiers fought against thousands of Persian infantry.

  A holographic countryside appeared in the classroom. The children walked around the miniature mountains and hills and let the edge of the illusionary sea lap at their boots. Toy-sized soldiers marched toward what Déjà explained was Thermopylae, a narrow strip of land between steep mountains and the sea. Thousands of soldiers marched toward the three hundred who guarded the pass. The soldiers fought: spears and shields splintered, swords flashed and spilled blood.

  John couldn’t take his eyes off the spectacle.

  Déjà explained that the three hundred were Spartans and they were the best soldiers who had ever lived. They had been trained to fight since they were children. No one could beat them.

  John watched, fascinated, as the holographic Spartans slaughtered the Persian spearmen.

  He had eaten his crackers but he was still hungry, so he took the girl’s next to him when she wasn’t looking, and munched them down as the battle raged on. His stomach still growled and grumbled.

  When was lunch? Or was it dinnertime already?

  The Persians broke and ran and the Spartans stood victorious on the field.

  The children cheered. They wanted to see it again.

  “That’s all for today,” Déjà said. “We’ll continue tomorrow and I’ll show you some wolves. Now it’s time for you to go to the playground.”

  “Playground?” John said. That was perfect. He could finally just sit on a swing, relax, and think for a moment.

  He ran out of the room, as did the other trainees.

  Chief Petty Officer Mendez and the trainers waited for them outside the classroom.

  “Time for the playground,” Mendez said, and waved the children closer. “It’s a short run. Fall in.”

  The “short run” turned into two miles. And the playground was like nothing John had ever seen. It was a forest of twenty-meter tall wooden poles. Rope cargo nets and bridges stretched between the poles; they swayed, crossed and crisscrossed one another, a maze suspended in the air. There were slide poles and knotted climbing ropes. There were swings and suspended platforms. There were ropes looped through pulleys and tied to baskets that looked sturdy enough to hoist a person.

  “Trainees,” Mendez said, “form three lines.”

  The instructors moved in to herd them, but John and the others made three rows without comment or fuss.

  “The first person in every row will be team number one,” Mendez said. “The second person in each row will be team number two... and so on. If you do not understand this, speak up now.”

  No one spoke.

  John looked to his right. A boy with sandy hair, green eyes, and darkly tanned skin gave him a weary smile. Stenciled on his sweat top was SAMUEL-034. In the row beyond Samuel was a girl. She was taller than John, and skinny, with a long mane of hair dyed blue. KELLY-087. She didn’t look too happy to see him.

  “Today’s game,” Mendez explained, “is called ‘Ring the Bell.’ ” He pointed to the tallest pole on the playground. It stood an additional ten meters above the others and had a steel slide pole next to it. Hung at the very top of that pole was a brass bell.

  “There are many ways to get to the bell,” he told them. “I leave it up to each team to find their own way. When every member of your team has rung the bell, you are to get groundside double time and run back here across this finish line.”

  Mendez took his baton and scratched a straight line in the sand.

  John raised his hand.

  Mendez glared at him for a moment with those black unblinking eyes. “A question, Trainee?”

  “What do we win?”

  Mendez cocked one eyebrow and appraised John. “You win dinner, Number 117. Tonight, dinner is roast turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, brownies, and ice cream.”

  A murmur of approval swept though the children.

  “But,” Mendez added, “for there to be winners there must be a loser. The last team to finish goes without food.”

  They children fell silent—and then looked at each other warily.

  “Make ready,” Mendez said.

  “I’m Sam,” the boy whispered to John and the girl on their team.

  She said, “I’m Kelly.”

  John just looked at them and said nothing. The girl would slow him down. Too bad. He was hungry and he wasn’t about to let them make him lose.

  “Go!” Mendez shouted.

  John ran through the pack of children and scrambled up a cargo net onto a platform. H
e raced across the bridge—jumped onto the next platform, just in time. The bridge flipped and sent five others into the water below.

  He paused at the rope tied to the large basket. It ran up through a pulley and then back down. He didn’t think he was strong enough to pull himself up in it. Instead, he tackled a knotted climbing rope and scrunched his body up. The rope swung wildly around the center pole. John looked down and almost lost his grip. It looked twice as far down as it had looked from the ground. He saw all the others, some climbing, others floundering in the water, getting up and starting over. No one was as close to the bell as he was.

  He swallowed his fear and kept climbing up. He thought of the ice cream and chocolate brownies and how he was going to win.

  John got to the top, grabbed the bell, and rang it three times. He then clasped the steel pole and slid all the way to the ground, falling into a pile of cushions.

  He got up and ran smiling all the way to the Chief Petty Officer. John crossed the finish line and gave a victory cry. “I was first,” he said, panting.

  Mendez nodded and made a check on his clipboard.

  John watched as the others made it and up rang the bell then raced across the finish line. Kelly and Sam had trouble. They got stuck in a line to get to the bell as everyone bunched up at the end.

  They finally rang the bell, slid down together... but they crossed the finish line last. They glared at John.

  He shrugged.

  “Good work, Trainees,” Mendez said, and he beamed at them all. “Let’s get back to the barracks and chow down.”

  The children, covered in mud and leaning on each another, cheered.

  “—all except team three,” Mendez said, and looked at Sam, Kelly, and then John.

  “But I won,” John protested. “I was first.”

  “Yes, you were first,” Mendez explained, “but your team came in last.” He then addressed all the children. “Remember this: you don’t win unless your team wins. One person winning at the expense of the group means that you lose.”

  John ran in a stupor all the way back to the barracks. It wasn’t fair. He had won. How can you win and still lose?

  He watched as the others stuffed themselves with turkey, white meat dripping with gravy. They spooned down mountains of vanilla ice cream and left the mess hall with chocolate encrusting the corners of their mouths.

  John got a liter of water. He drank it, but it didn’t have any taste. It did nothing to fill his hunger.

  He wanted to cry, but he was too tired. He collapsed in his bunk, thinking of ways to get even with Sam and Kelly for messing him up—but he couldn’t think. Every muscle and bone ached.

  John fell asleep as soon as his head hit the flat pillow.

  The next day was the same—calisthenics and running all morning, then class until the afternoon.

  Today Déjà taught them about wolves. The classroom became a holographic meadow, and the children watched seven wolves hunt a moose. The pack worked together, striking wherever the giant beast wasn’t facing. It was fascinating and horrifying to watch the wolves track down, and then devour, an animal many times their size.

  John avoided Sam and Kelly in the classroom. He stole a few extra crackers when no one was looking but they didn’t dull his hunger.

  After class, they ran back to the playground. Today it was different. There were fewer bridges and more complicated rope-and-pulley systems. The pole with the bell was now twenty meters taller than any of the others.

  “Same teams as yesterday,” Mendez announced.

  Sam and Kelly walked up to John. Sam shoved him.

  John’s temper flared—he wanted to hit Sam in the face, but he was too tired. He’d need all his strength to get to the bell.

  “You better help us,” Sam hissed, “or I’ll push you off one of those platforms.”

  “And I’ll jump on top of you,” Kelly added.

  “Okay,” John whispered. “Just try not to slow me down.”

  John examined the course. It was like doing a maze on paper, only this one twisted and turned into and out of the page. Many bridges and rope ladders led to dead ends. He squinted—then found one possible route.

  He nudged Sam and Kelly then pointed. “Look,” he said, “that basket and rope on the far side. It goes straight to the top. It’s a long pull, though.” He flexed his biceps, uncertain if he could make it in his weakened state.

  “We can do it,” Sam said.

  John glanced at the other teams; they were searching the course as well. “We’ll have to make a quick run for it,” he said. “Make sure no one else gets there first.”

  “I’m fast,” Kelly said. “Real fast.”

  “Trainees, get ready,” Mendez shouted.

  “Okay,” John said. “You sprint ahead and hold it for us.”

  “Go!”

  Kelly shot forward. John had never seen anyone move like her. She ran like the wolves he had seen today; her feet seemed barely to touch the ground.

  She got to the basket. John and Sam were only halfway there.

  One boy beat them to the basket. “Get out,” he ordered Kelly. “I’m going up.”

  Sam and John ran up and pushed him back. “Wait your turn,” Sam said.

  John and Sam joined Kelly in the basket. Together they pulled on the rope and raised themselves up. There was a lot of rope—for every three meters they pulled, they only rose one meter. A breeze made the basket sway and bounce into the pole.

  “Faster,” John urged.

  They pulled as one person, six hands working in unison, and accelerated into the sky.

  They didn’t get there first. They were third. Each of them got to ring the bell, though—Kelly, Sam, and John.

  They slid down the pole. Kelly and Sam waited for John to land, and then together they ran across the finish line.

  Chief Petty Officer Mendez watched them. He didn’t say anything, but John thought he saw a smile flicker across his face.

  Sam clapped John and Kelly on their backs. “That was good work,” Sam said. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, “We can be friends... I mean, if you want. It’d be no big deal.”

  Kelly shrugged and replied, “Sure.”

  “Okay,” John said. “Friends.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  0630 Hours, July 12, 2519 (Military Calendar)

  Epsilon Eridani System, Reach Military Wilderness Training Preserve, planet Reach

  John held on tight as the dropship accelerated up and over a jagged snowcapped mountain range. The sun peeked over the horizon and washed the white snow with pinks and oranges. The other members of his unit pressed their faces to the windows and watched.

  Sam sat next to him and looked outside. “Nice place for a snowball fight.”

  “You’ll lose,” Kelly said. She leaned over John’s shoulder to get a better look at the terrain. “I’m a dead aim with snowballs.” She scratched the stubble of her shorn hair.

  “Dead is right,” John muttered. “Especially when you load them with rocks.”

  CPO Mendez stepped from the cockpit into the passenger compartment. The trainees stood and snapped to attention. “At ease, and sit down.” The silver at Mendez’s temples had grown to a band across the side of his closely shaved hair, but if anything he had gotten stronger and tougher since John had first laid eyes on him two years ago.

  “Today’s mission will be simple for a change.” Mendez’s voice easily penetrated the roar of the dropship’s engines. He handed a stack of papers to Kelly. “Pass these out, Recruit.”

  “Sir!” She saluted smartly and handed one paper to each of the seventy-five children in the squad.

  “These are portions of maps of the local region. You will be set down by yourselves. You will then navigate to a marked extraction point and we will pick you up there.”

  John turned his map over. It was just one part of a much larger map—no drop or extraction point marked. How was he supposed to navigate without a reference point? But
he knew this was part of the mission, to answer that question on his own.

  “One more thing,” Mendez said. “The last trainee to make it to the extraction point will be left behind.” He glanced out a window. “And it’s a very long walk back.”

  John didn’t like it. He wasn’t going to lose, but he didn’t want anyone else to lose, either. The thought of Kelly or Sam or any of the others marching all the way back made him uneasy... if they could make it all the way back alone over those mountains.

  “First drop in three minutes,” Mendez barked. “Trainee 117, you’re up first.”

  “Sir! Yes, sir!” John replied.

  He glanced out the window and scanned the terrain. There was a ring of jagged mountains, a valley thick with cedars, and a ribbon of silver—a river that fed into a lake.

  John nudged Sam, pointed to the river, then jerked his thumb toward the lake.

  Sam nodded, then pulled Kelly aside and pointed out the window. Kelly and Sam moved quickly down the line of seated trainees.

  The ship decelerated. John felt his stomach rise as they dropped toward the ground.

  “Trainee 117: front and center.” Mendez stepped to the rear of the compartment as the ship’s tail split and a ramp extended. Cold air blasted into the ship. He patted John on the shoulder. “Watch out for wolves in the forest, 117.”

  “Yes, sir!” John looked over his shoulder at the others.

  His teammates gave him an almost imperceptible nod. Good, everyone got his message.

  He ran down the ramp and into the forest. The dropship’s engines roared to life and it rose high into the cloudless sky. He zipped up his jacket. He wore only fatigues, boots, and a heavy parka—not exactly the gear he’d pack for a prolonged stay in the wilderness.

  John started toward one particularly sharp peak he had spotted from the air; the river lay in that direction. He’d follow it downstream and meet the others at the lake.

  He marched through the woods until he heard the gurgling of a stream. He got close enough to see the direction of the flow, then headed back into the forest. Mendez’s exercises often had a twist to them—stun mines on the obstacle course, snipers with paint pellet guns during parade drills. And with the Chief up in that dropship, John wasn’t about to reveal his position unless he had a good reason.