69 Book 4 - Chapter 127 (1/2)
Y: 2143 - M2 Prelude
2142 Results
Inter-Academy Round 11 Fortescue Points: 1531, Rank: 2, PR: 0.794
Daedalus Financial Position: +14,340,000 bitcreds
End of 2142
(AN Axelzero will now be shown as Axel-Zero: pronounced the same in your head.)
Their world had changed.
Vannier, Picard, Axel-Zero and Kang were running in their exos in the desert miles above their underground base. For the first twenty minutes there was little talk, it wasn't needed to communicate direction their HUD set down waypoints for them.
Until Kang disturbed the silence, ”I'm hot, what's your temp set at?” She asked no one in particular.
Picard replied, ”Eighteen when I'm running.” (18C 64F)
Kang breathed a reply through the audio comms, ”Oh.” And adjusted her settings down five degrees.
The exos bounded across the terrain; from afar they looked like a video of astronauts running across the moon. These units were bulkier than the competition variety, with the comprehensive life support systems and protection for said systems adding an extra twenty percent mass.
”What are we going to do?” Axel-Zero blurted now the silence had been broken.
There was no answer, they kept running until they hit the perimeter of their surveillance net.
Vannier stopped, and they gathered around her.
She finally replied to Axel-Zero's question. ”There's nothing that can be done, not unless we cloned the original Daedo, but even then, he'd be an empty shell of the boy we knew.”
Cloning was possible, it just wasn't useful. Conscience transfer was in the realm of science fiction and the planet already had fifteen billion people it could barely feed, what was the point of cloning more.
But the rich did. The rich did anything and everything. It wasn't common to meet a clone and even if you did, how would you know?
There was the famous story of the Tsinghua chairman who cloned himself and raised his clone like a son. It was a cautionary tale. The clone killed its so-called father.
”We need to watch him,” Kang said, ”who knows what he is capable of now.”
”He could easily know everything we say, including here and now,” Picard added.
Vannier nodded, ”But he would expect it and not take anything personally. It's as if he has one directive and that's defending the planet. I worry for anyone who opposes his mission.”
Axel-Zero asked worriedly, ”What if we disagree on a strategy or his way of doing something?”
Vannier kicked the sand, ”We can make submissions, he will review but ultimately we have to follow his orders or remove him as Commander.” They heard her sniffle, it seemed she was crying again, ”He said something.”
There was silence while they waited for Vannier to continue.
”… the organisation can only be saved by good people. If good people do nothing, evil will prevail.”
They were in what would be classed as medium to heavy exos, but they were still able to hold hands even if hugging was almost impossible. Axel-Zero and Picard each took one of Vannier's hands and then did the same with Kang. They now stood in a circle.
”If he was scary insightful before…” Picard let her thought trail off.
Vannier agreed, ”He gave me that mission to pass on. I didn't realise until now.” The others could hear her crying, sobbing into the comms. ”If we think he has turned evil, we must stop him. We must not do nothing.”
Axel-Zero was first to reply, ”We are with you Vannier. You don't need to feel alone.”
Picard simply said, ”Yes.”
After an awkward silence Kang replied, ”I'm sure glad I didn't sign up.” She referred to the Private Military, neither her nor Axel-Zero had signed.
Axel-Zero gasped, ”You're not going to leave, are you?”
Kang chuckled, ”And miss this shit show? Not on my life.”
”So, you're staying?” Picard asked.
Kang laughed and the other three were infected. In a moment all four were laughing to some degree.
”You're so dense Picard. Yes, I'm staying. I want to see what robo-boy wonder does next.” Kang clarified after her laughter died down.
”So, what's next?” Axel-Zero asked.
”We get ready for next year,” Vannier said, ”Let's get back.”
The four girls, each strong and talented in their own way, ran back to the base where the commander waited.
He was no longer the boy they had grown to respect and even love, he was in there, but he was changed. The question was, was he forever changed?
Reports and submissions from Daedalus personal, for 2143 operations, were submitted and Daedo only took a minute to review them all. But analysing possible outcomes from new ideas and concepts took him a full day.
The following day the scheduled general meeting was beginning, and all current Daedalus members were present. These ranged from the Private Military to the Academy and Civilian Experts.
The Daedalus Private Military Members and Ranks were as follows. (Includes Academy ranks which suspended PM Ranks while on Academy activities)
Daedalus Private Military, Rank PM, Rank Academy
Daedo, Commander, O6, Officer Cadet, C4
Vannier, Captain, O3, Squad Leader, C3
Mace, First Lieutenant, O2, Squad Leader, C3
Barran, First Lieutenant, O2, Squad Leader, C3
Picard, First Lieutenant, O2, Squad Leader, C3
Name, Rank, Designation
Master Picard, Specialist-MA, E5
Gabe Mace, Specialist-Op, E5
Adele Mace, Specialist-Op, E5
Daedalus Academy, Rank Academy,
Master Haddad, Academy Head, O5
Master Picard, Master, O5
Chief Austin, Chief, O4
Everyone was able to make an in-person appearance excluding Mister Lee Kang who was officially an outside Agent and not a Daedalus member despite appearing on the list.
Daedalus Civilians
Axel-Zero, Pascal Axel, CE1, C1
Kang, CE1, C1
Ikaros, Ikaros Daedo, CE4
Cisse, Cisse Reyas, CE5
Lee Kang, Agent
Daedalus AI,
AI-Aemo, CPU AI, CE1
Ai-Dex, CPU AI, CE1