Monsters from Myth!!!

…Continued from before

I had no time to get shocked or recover from it. I shouted into my mic, “Mumbo and Jumbo, clear out your nearest enemy platoons ASAP and switch to stealth mode. Get out of the compound. We need to redo our strategy.”

Jonas shouted back in the radio, “What the hell happened chief? Why are we turning back on our asses?”

“Because, if you don’t,” I cut him short, “there won’t be anything left of your asses to salvage. Now, move it!”

Even though I had given orders to regroup, I couldn’t resist myself from taking a swing at one of those monstrous robots. The onboard computer of my armour had been constantly making observations and analysing those robots since the moment I saw them.

Each of them, a mechanical monster, stood on legs as thick as stone columns, designed like the legs of an ostrich. They were suppoerted by a thick metal frame build around a complex network of hydraulics.

The upper body started just above the knees which seemed to house a cooling system around the abdominal region with rocket launchers built inside the chest. The chest and the abdomen were segregated, held together by a rotating joint.

The arms were as thick as the legs and built similarly. Although, the elbows were replaced with rotary cannons built inside a cooling system supported by metal frames. The head was a fixed glass dome which housed eight cameras. Two each along each direction, which provided 360 degrees field of vision.

I saw the letters GOL2A on the monstrous robot nearest to me. I couldn’t reckon what those letters might stand for but it was clear that they were identifications. I marked it for attack. The mostrous robots had already started moving towards Jonas’ team, their metallic bodies gleaming under the bright floodlights.

I ran silently towards the marked one. Two solfiers jogged alongside each Goliath which itself moved like a brute, the barrels of their guns rotating slowly. The hydraulics hissed with each step, steam ejected from the cooling system at regular intervals.

I could hear the soldiers tally with each other through the crackle of their comm systems. I was withina distance of thirty feet from GOL2A which stopped for a moment and looked straight in my direction.

I could tell because two more cameras inside the dome had positioned above and below the two cameras already facing in my direction.

I stopped immediately, the soldiers had taken their positions besides the robot. Slowly, the torso turned, facing me. It raised its arms and its cannons pointed towards me, the barrels spinning slowly but gaining momentum.

It stood there, just like that for what seemed like an eternity to me and then its torso rotated away from me and the mech started to walk away. I heaved a sigh of relief.

My armour was made based on precise calculations but I really hadn’t had much time to test it. I had completed the project almost at the last moment. I didn’t really know how it would perform if it is hit by a missile or a grenade. Well, I didn’t have to wait too long to find out.

I had started jogging towards my target again and accessed the rifles on my arms witht their silencer attachment activated. The guns sprang up from their compartment inside my forearms, slid along the wrists, and into my hands. The rifle butts unfolded from the rear end and extended themselves to rest on my shoulders.

There was one problem with my armour, the stealth mechanism in the regions hosting the weapons deactivated while using them. Attaching the projectors on the concealed weapons and their attachments had not been possible due to lack of time.

While moving, the targeting system zoomed in on the two soldiers around the robot and marked their heads. I raised my arms and fired. The next thing I saw was their heads exploding like watermelons. Their bodies dropped followed by their mashed up brains. The robot turned around, four cameras looking in my direction.

I didn’t lose a second and fired at its dome on the top. The marker for the missile moved on the screen of my hood and then it exploded on on the mech’s head. I waited for it to fall but that didn’t happen. As the smoke around it cleared, I saw the cannons in its hands pointed at me, their rotations gaining speed very fast.

Before I could process, I saw a ring of smoke being ejected from one of the barrels, and everything shook around me with a loud boom.

The next thing I felt was the ground disappear beneath my feet. I found myself flying in the air. Thud! I hit the boundary wall and fell down. I think I blacked out for a moment.

I regained my senses after another thud. I could hear a faint screaming, someone was calling me. I could recognise the voice as my head cleared and the screaming sounded closer. It was Jonas.

“Chief, where the hell are you?”

I saw red flashes all aorund me, the armour’s security system screamed inside my helmet. Multiple system failures. My armour was not as strong as was required.

“I’ll reach your position in a few minutes,” I spoke into my mic, “I was hit by a missile!”

“Chief, are you having fun all by yourself?” Nate asked in a cheeky tone.

“No,” I replied, “Whatever this is, it’s not fun. Sit tight, I’ll be back soon.” And I started the system diagnostics. The nanotube structure was still intact. The main brunt of the hits was taken by the outer layer which caused the titanium scales to malfunction. The cloak was down because the micro-projectors had shut down to minimise damage under emergency protocols.

The armour restructured itslef, it took some time while the diagnostics were still running. The damage was large, not large enough to incapacitate.

I turned my head to look at the spot on the wall where I had struck. A crater filled with cracks stared back at me. I looked in the other direction the look at the Goliath that had hit me, and BOOM! Another hit.

I was flung against the wall again, into that crater. Sirens blared all around me. I had to get out of here.

I checked for the drone in the back of my armour, luckily it hadn’t been affected yet. I deployed it up in the air to study the GOL2A more closely. I directed maximum power of my suit to its legs and I ran towards the rear wall, as fast as the suit allowed. The rendezvous or our teams could not be compromised under any condition. Escaping the compound from the farthest point in the wall was my best option.

I heard a loud bang behind me. Another missile had hit the spot where I stood seconds ago. The Goliath was powerful but slow, and I moved too fast for it to target my position precisely. I saw it move in my direction, I had to escape fast.

Within the next few seconds, I reached the walls at the rear. The Goliath was still chasing me, each step creating small tremors on the ground. A beep at the rear of my head alerted me of an incoming rocket. I swerved to the left as the rocker zoomed past my shoulder.

It hit the wall in front of me and exploded into a ball of fire and smoke. I felt the shockwaves from the explosion as I ran towards the crater on the wall created by the blast. I checked the diagnostics, my cloaking system was seconds away from realignment.

I dropped a smoke grenade as I closed in to the wall. I targeted the weakest points in the wall cavity and fired two missiles from the rocket launcher attached to the shoulder compartment of my armour.

The missiles hit the crater, making it into a bigger hole, large enough for me to pass through. I ran at full speed towards the opening and with one hard jump, I lurched through the hole and landed on my hands at the other side. The cloak icon blinked green on my hood. I switched it on and huffed into my mic,

“Jonas, I’ll be reaching in two minutes.”

To be Continued…

Infiltration at the End of the World

Aramis nodded to me and Phil, and jogged back to his squad. After some more chattering they strode off to the compound. It was 11 o’clock by then, the sky was darker than usual, ominous rather. I was looking at the sky in deep thought when Phil dragged me to the table.

He had drawn and redrawn battle strategies until he found the path of least resistance. The enemy mortar teams had to be brought down first to avoid attrition and damage to our troops. That also meant all battle personnel on our side including the machine gunners had to get inside the compound as soon as the first mortar team was struck. Obviously, the explosion would alert the rest of the enemy troops.

We would still have the element of surprise. Two mortar teams were just behind the first entrance of the Citadel, just behind the gates. The rest were spread about at equal distances. But, there was something else that needed to be taken care of, the sentries. Guards were posted in each minaret armed with machine guns. The Assassins were the best option to remove the sentries.

That was not all, the recon drones reported another problem. The sentries were connected to their guns via a cord, most probably some type of feedback loop to check their status. We could not take absolutely any risk before the Phantom jets struck the mortar teams inside the compound. We could not disconnect the sentries or else we were risking being discovered. The only way was to take out each guard, and then diasbling their firing and receptor mechanisms keeping everything else intact. Of course, a feedback loop had to be installed which would relay the necessary information. The Assassins had a built-in hacking module in their abdominal region which could be connected to machines externally.

Now the question was, how to scale the walls without tipping off the enemy. Pressure sensors had been a norm since much before the War, along with laser grids on the parapet. The laser grid was not a problem, the pressure sensors were. The Assassins moved on a cushion of air to minimise sounds, but the air pressure could trigger sensors. Any effort to climb the minarets would alert the security inside, using jet pods would reveal heat signatures, and airdrops would reveal position and intent.

The last trick in our books was to use electric thrust turbines. The R&D department had introduced a feature in the suits of the AI soldiers that allowed external attachments. The electric turbines could be fitted on the backs of our stealth units. They did not enable the units to fly on command but had enough thrust to make them hover at a height or glide upwards slowly. Their heading could be controlled by the thrusters on their feet and hands. The fins build in their suits could help in gliding on their way down.

I had requested Phil to transmit the video feed of the recon drones to my suit’s onboard computer. Of course, the drones would not be able to see the soldiers but their transmitters would reveal their precise locations. I saw the blips reach the perimeter wall within seconds. Then, I saw the blips move up which meant they had started their ascent.

Their ascent didn’t trigger any alarms. I saw two flashes of light, and then saw the guards fall down. One blip remained motionless for a few seconds, most probably someone was deactivating the sentries. The blips started moving in the opposite directions as soon as the soldiers took account of enemy movements. I saw the blips float down, thirty eight sentries remained. We signalled the Phantoms for take-off. My heart was pounding again, as I saw the blips move up and down, gradually cleaning the security on the perimeter walls. About an hour later, I hear Jonas’ voice crackled on the radio,

“All done chief. We are on our way back.”

“Job well done,” I heaved a sigh of relief, momentary relief.

The Phantoms were still about thirty minutes away.

Jonas and Nate had formed two teams for the next step, Mumbo and Jumbo, each of which comprised or one machine gunner, three infantry units and two assassins. The infantry units moved in as soon as the sentries were taken out. They deployed the explosives and waited for the airstrike. The Assassins waited in front of the wall, hidden.

The explosives were timed to go off as soon as the first mortar team was taken out. That would be our cue to move in. The recon drones hovered above the outer walls and provided feed for the enemy movement.

As soon as we got the confirmation from Jonas, I ordered everyone to get ready. It was five minutes past midnight. The Phantoms were still thirty minutes away.

At twenty minutes past midnight, we started. Nate lead the team, I stayed at the back, observing the compound. Thermal images showed no change in enemy routine. This meant our strategy till now had been successful. The ETA of the Phantoms was fifteen minutes.

We reached the entrance soon after. Immediately, Nate and his team of infantry got busy in attaching the tabificus explosives to the massive concrete gates. I saw Jonas appear out of nowhere.

He slowly approached Nate from behind while he was attaching the leads of the detonator to the explosive device. I was curious about Jonas’ intentions. I saw the blip move in my feed and Nate fell over, his face on the ground, followed by Jonas’ robotic laughter.

Nate got up and muttered, “Asshole!” Jonas was still laughing hysterically. It was concerning now because his loud voice risked exposure.

I was pleasantly surprised. It seemed we had achieved with AI what we always wanted, independent emotions and ability to act on them.

Jonas commanded his team to move to the other side to deploy their quota of the explosives.

“See you on the other side, Nate!”, cackled Jonas as he jogged to the other side. After attaching the explosives, we took position at a slight distance from the gate. The explosions were gonna be muffled as the main job was to be done by the extremely corrosive Aqua Tabificus. Eating through the concrete would be simple for it.

My onboard computer blipped within minutes, the Phantoms were here. I looked up and saw the clouds shifting, and then two loud explosions rocked the compound.

The explosives at the gates blasted at the same time, we watched the liquid filled with tiny all-eating microorganisms eat away the concrete and metal fittings inside the concrete. We waited till the acid created an irregular gaping hole in the gates.

Six more explosions were heard at some distance. I saw the clouds behind the compound shift again. The Phantoms were coming in for a second fly-by. We waited patiently. A few seconds more.

Eight consecutive blasts shook everything around us. The stealth bombers had done their jobs.

We stormed inside the compound, all we could see was black smoke and we heard alarms blaring. Jonas and Nate with their teams moved in opposite directions along the main road which ran along the main building. We were connected via comms.

The drones detected major movement all around the compound. Defensive protocols of the Citadel were in place. We didn’t wait for the smoke to subside.

I heard Jonas’s voice crackle in my comms, “Jumbo is in position. Machine gunner entrenched.”

Nate had gone towards right. His voice came in clearly, “Roger that. Mumbo is in position. Machine gunner entrenched. There are a lot of them Jonas.”

“Wanna bet who kills more?” Jonas asked back. I was stumped at their creativity.

?Roger that,” replied Nate.

The formation of the attack was straightforward. Each machine gunner was going to form a perimeter by raining bullets at the enemy troops. The infantrymen positioned themselves on the sides of the machine gunners, behind the wall of fire.

They used their sniper attachments to make precision shots. The reaper bullets would penetrate nicely.

The Assassins stayed cloaked outside the wall of fire, ready to take out those who got past the barrier of bullets.

I moved ahead, trying to assess the situation further. I chose stealth for my current job. The titanium scales on my armour were enabled to produce a cloak via micro projectors on their surface. I stuck to the inner side of the perimeter wall which gave me a wider vision of the compound. At the same time it minimised encounters with the enemy troops.

Well, I managed to reach the other end of the wall without attracting much attention. But, I did not like what I saw, at all.

Two flashing red lights had caught my attention as soon as I had started to move along the adjacent side of the compound. I had just stopped to observe everything carefully. I hear d a loud hiss and the soldiers posted below the flashing lights started jogging in two files in opposite directions.

With another loud hiss, longer this time, I saw white smoke emanating from the wall of the facility facing towards me. I heard a series of metallic clangs. What had seemed like walls were actually armoured doors. They were about thirty feet high, and had just started rolling in opposite directions, the supporting wheels clanging along the rails.

My tongue dried in my mouth, heartbeat increased. Four files of heavily armed soldiers marched out, ten soldiers in each file. That part was not where I worried.

The reasons for my worry were led by the soldiers, twenty biped robots, walking slowly out of the gates, each of them about fifteen feet high. I was out of my wits.

Our assumption, rather my assumption that Sergei had exhausted his armaments while laying siege to our city was absolutely wrong. Not only that, it seemed that we had walked straight into a massive ambush.

Before the Citadel

3rd July 2355, 9 PM

We are almost there, atmost another hour. It’s absolutely dark outside, the only lights are from our vehicles and blinking red on our drones. I can’t remember the last time I saw stars twinkling in the sky. I wonder sometimes, whatever I am doing, is it really worth it? We, I mean me and the people who I work with, have indeed come a long way but at the cost of what? All I could see the whole day today were dried up rivers and oceans, broken remains of buildings, fallen bridges that boasted of the engineering capabilities of humans. It’s ironic how humans themselves were responsible for the destruction of their proud creations. Fortunately we didn’t encounter any storm till now. Even a small one was powerful enough to topple our vehicles. We need to clear up the atmosphere soon if we want our civilization to progress.

I had expected the presence of some new species but could find none. Maybe because of the constant sub-zero temperatures nothing could thrive. There’s also a probability that there might be existence of organisms below the surface like the Scaloids (refer to Episode 16 What Lies Beneath) but to ensure that we need to explore properly and now is not the time. The soldiers are still chattering among themselves. The vehicles are slowing down. We have reached our mark, our to-be camp which is surrounded by a bunch of worn down skyscrapers, keeping us hidden from the eyes of the enemies. The facility is about three hundred metres away from our location.

I hadn’t finished documenting the description of the facility. As far as Sergei had confessed, the levels of the facility above the ground were dedicated to researching brain control, AI, weaponry and other war machines. The levels below the ground served as living quarters for the clones involved in research work and other responsibilities.

10 PM

We have reached our destination. It’s an eerie feeling. Last time I was involved in something similar was more than two centuries ago. Still all of it seems to have happened just yesterday. I could feel my heartbeat increase thinking about it. The moon was hidden even on that night, the sky murky. Me and my team were to infiltrate a heavily guarded nuclear silo. Our actions were going to change the whole world and they did, not entirely to my calculations but the end result was almost the same as I had expected. I was supposed to die that day but I didn’t. I had sincerely hoped for death as I am doing now but fate had more torture in store for me. Most unfortunate I’d say though I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t have any reason or wish to live but I couldn’t die. Let’s see if I get to die today. These people can take care of themselves after this facility is destroyed. No, I can’t die. I have Husky to take care of. I can die after he dies. Time to move out.

4th July 2355, 5AM

Still living, not without a few scratches though. Didn’t get those in a long time. The singeing feels nice somehow, battle scars always made me feel good. Right now, I am waiting to regroup with the others near the entrance of the facility. Last night was long and bloody.

Last night at about 11 o’clock, four stealth drones were sent to the citadel for reconnaissance. Our information about our enemies checked out. We moved out at 11:30 PM. The broken down buildings looming over us, silent, watching. Darkness spread out like an endless shroud above us, sudden gusts of chilly wind trying to sway us from our path. The Assassins were leading the pack with me and Husky at the end. Phil had stayed back to monitor our movements and the drone video feed, also relay relevant information back to us. I had enough time to upgrade mine and Husky’s suit before leaving the city. “Upgrade” isn’t the appropriate word here. The suit was converted into a small walking tank. I had kept the inner lining since I was comfortable in it. I had attached a flexible blackbody mesh over it which absorbed any incoming or outgoing radiation. This modified suit could be worn separately or inside an armoured exoskeleton I had designed especially for these situations. The outer layer comprised of small plates made from Titanium Aluminium alloy. These plates were arranged like scales on a fish and could slide over one another allowing extensive maneuvers and certain other functions. The limbs were motorized with the joints augmented with hydraulic systems. These mechanisms amplified the wearer’s strength by a factor of ten under normal conditions and could be boosted by twenty five times for short durations. Though the boosters were needed to be recharged externally before they could be used again. The layer just below the exoskeleton consisted of a mesh of carbon nanotubes. These tubes could slide within each other to provide openings wherever required. The next layer comprised of all the weapons I had installed inside the armour. One reaper assault rifle and a smaller gun were fitted on both arms which could spring up and shoot when needed. Two sets of miniature missile systems with a payload consisting of aqua tabificus, that insanely strong acid we discovered, were installed on the shoulders. On one side of the back was housed a gattling cannon which used Piercer rounds and on the other side was a drone which could be used for reconnaissance. The mid back housed a powerful turbine which facilitated jumping to a height of thirty metres.

The head of the exoskeleton housed an onboard computer which controlled all the mechanisms of course with a manual override. It could also store a data of over ten petabytes and feed the information visually or through audio. The eyes of the armoured suit had targetting systems along with thermal imaging and a certain level of X-ray vision. Husky’s suit had similar upgrades but with only the gattling cannon as the firing weapon. Husky could operate the mechanised jaws built in his suit though the rest of the systems were AI controlled with the override in my command. I did what I could as preparation for battle but I had never faced such a conflict before. Fighting the Scaloids was different. They were primitive and lot less in number. Our current adversaries were humans and we weren’t sure about their numbers but we knew it would be more than hundred not to mention the mechanical units at their disposal. If we lost this battle, the enemy would attack the city and without proper leadership the city could fall. Failure was not an option.

We reached a spot within two kilometres from the base of the citadel. Jonas and Nate rallied their platoon behind the broken walls of a high rise to keep away from enemy eyes. There wasn’t much to mask our heat signatures, thankfully we had our cloaking drones to create projections of the world around us to make us invisible. Suddenly, I saw the unthinkable. I was discussing with Phil regarding our strategy for attack when Jonas walked to the front of the platoon while Nate knocked on everyone to listen. Was he going to give a pep talk? No, it was a speech.

Jonas started loud, in his mechanical voice, “We may not have been born long ago, we may not have seen the world much but we were created for a purpose, we trained for a purpose. Tonight, that purpose has brought us here, to our rite of passage as warriors. Tonight we fight till the last man stands, or machine. We are not here to sacrifice ourselves but to live through everything and have a brighter tomorrow. Tonight is not the night we die.” No sooner had he finished, I heard a shrill whistle from my left, it was Phil. The rest of the platoon started cheering on behind Phil. Jonas tried to calm them down, “Guys, we do not wish to give away our position to the enemy, be quiet please.”

I was dumbfounded with the last sentence Jonas said, Tonight is not the night we die. It was something I had said to myself before doing anything risky. I beckoned to Jonas. When he jogged over, I asked him, “How did you come up with the last sentence of the speech?” Jonas shrugged his polymer shoulders and said, “No idea, it just seemed like the right thing to say. Maybe I picked it up during our training sessions.”

I looked at him for a second and replied, “yeah, that must be it” and made a mental note to ask Phil about it later. Aramis broke off from his group and jogged towards us.

“Chief, any words for us?”

I smirked, “No, Jonas spoke for everyone of us. Now, it’s time for you to show us what you got.”

To be continued…

The Supposed Future of Humans

30th June 2355, 11 PM

We are almost ready for another journey, a trip to the Citadel as was called by Sergei. However, it’s different this time as me and Husky are not the only ones travelling. We’ll be accompanied by a dozen mechanical humanoid soldiers, Phil, Sergei and Minerva. Of course Sergei and Minerva will be in separate isolated compartments on a different vehicle. Brokka had to design two different vehicles for this purpose not to mention the new soldiers. Three Rhinos, two panthers and about half a dozen Bulls were going to tail us. Air support which consisted of five Spectres and two Revenants were put on standby.

Our armed unit manufacturing facility had been continuously working past few days churning out stronger versions of our battle units. Sergei’s tank was studied to understand the working of its shield. The administration didn’t want to take chances anymore. I am glad that they understood the gravity of the situation before there was any major damage. From damage, I forgot to mention our dome has been repaired to its full capacity. Coming back to the topic, our arsenal is being enhanced continuously. The next time we have a meeting, I’d discuss about expanding the city for some new establishments I have in mind.

The humanoid soldiers were designed according to different needs. The weapons were built in, and the design of the body was based on the type of weapons a soldier handled. We didn’t induce any sniper unit since we already had the Panthers. They made their mark during our previous battle. The type of humanoid units designed were:

A. Assassins: Close combat units, armed with two katanas, one fitted with each arm. Those katanas could rotate about two orthogonal axes and the added rotation of the arm gave it immense flexibility. These units were further outfitted with a pair of shotguns, one on each shoulder. These shotguns could rotate about the horizontal and vertical axes and used shells which contained pellets that exploded upon impact. These units moved on a cushion of air to minimise the sound produced during motion.

B. Infantry: These units were outfitted with two built in assault rifles which used piercer bullets for ammunition. They operated mid range to short range combat and could be used in almost any situation. Additionally, they carried remote explosives that deployed a semi solid form of aqua tabificus upon detonation. This could help us immensely if the need to destroy something arised.

C. Heavy machine gunners: These were the largest of all units, almost half the size of a bull. Each of their arms contained a multi barrel machine gun firing about 100 rounds per minute. The guns were housed under a tapered casing. The main role of the casing was to cool the gun. The cooling mechanism operated by passing a coolant over the barrels which evaporated reducing the overall temperature of the gun and the gases were exhausted through four vents in the casing. The ammunition used were larger versions of Reaper bullets. The legs of these units were made appropriately large to provide balance during movement and traction while firing. However, while firing, two supports emerged from the back and provided added foundation to handle the recoil of the guns. Their range was enough to use them as mini artillery units.

I had requested for two machine gunners, six infantry units and four assassins to accompany us. All of the units had AI and their behaviour had been modified based on their experience. Phil was telling me that the programmers had included humour in these soldiers to create a more realistic environment. No, I don’t get it. What’s the need of humour among killing machines? I just hope that they do their jobs right. We will leave in two days. The robots need a short training, apparently to gain some perspective in teamwork. Me, Phil, Husky and the soldiers were supposed to go in an armoured personnel carrier, Magnus, similar to the Unmanned Probing Vehicle but larger in size to carry at least twenty people. It was much slower than the UPV because of the additional armour which also made it sturdier. It also had the same self defence mechanisms which I had employed in my car.

Sergei’s car Azai, well it’s more of a prison van, also unmanned but little smaller. Yes, we overlooked prisoner comfort. It’s interior was designed to carry a total of six prisoners each in an isolated cell. Every cell was cutoff from the outside through sound proof walls, with a built in camera and microphone. The inside of the walls had screens to give the prisoner a simulation of the outside, we don’t want them to go insane. The sound of the vehicle moving was channelled to each cell. This environment was to keep the occupant calmer and thus less susceptible to harming his own self. Of course the walls were coated with protègo for obvious reasons. Sergei didn’t know that Minerva was absolutely fine and we intended to keep up the ruse till we reached our destination. That’s why, it is best to put Sergei inside his cell and secure him first followed by Minerva. It’s late. I’ll sleep now. Gotta make some preparations tomorrow before we start for the trip.

3rd July 2355, 10 AM

Sitting inside the Magnus presently. We started about two hours ago. Minerva almost succeeded in creating a ruckus. She was hell bent on seeing Sergei before getting on the van. She had to be sedated finally. Sergei was for some reason very calm, unusually calm. Didn’t sit well with me. What’s even more irritating is the constant chattering among the soldiers. The training did give them a better perspective on combat but at the same time they developed bonding among themselves and now they are cracking jokes in mechanical voices. I have absolutely no idea how do they even recognise who is whom. I think one of them is calling me.

Yeah, it was their team leader, an assassin unit. I heard, “Hey chief! What’s up with the gloomy face? You ain’t happy traveling with us?” I saw Phil chuckle, I was little embarrassed.

Phil quipped, “Don’t mind him guys. Smiling isn’t his cup of tea. You carry on with your conversation. It’s entertaining.”

The team leader said, “Thanks deputy. I am Jonas by the way. This is my second in command in infantry Nate. Fellas, don’t be a chum and introduce yourselves. And make nice with the chief or else he will tear you apart.” And he laughed in that nasal cracked voice. Phil nodded, “You got that last part right Jonas. The chief can tear you apart.”

Jonas was taken aback,”Dayyummnn!! We got a solid chief. Fellas, start talking.”

The rest of the assassins spoke in unison, “we are the three musketeers but instead of muskets we carry katanas and shotguns apparently.” Then the one in the middle spoke, “this one to my left is Athos, the one to my right is Aramis and I am Porthos. We intend to start a revolution. I have a question for you chief,” as I nodded with a faint smile, Porthos said, “why weren’t we given assault rifles like Nate and his team? You think we can’t handle those little weapons or are you too scared of the revolution?”

I started grinning at this point,”You are sarcastic little mugs aren’t you? You want to start a revolution because you are the musketeers? How old are you?”

Porthos sounded embarrassed now, “Me and Aramis are five days old I guess. Athos is the youngest. He was born two days after us. Don’t kill us please.”

“Don’t worry. I am not entirely heartless. Well musketeers, your weapons are as important as the others. Your role is in close combat and sometimes stealth. I hope your shotguns aren’t very loud. Assault rifles aren’t accurate enough for close combat purposes and hence only infantry units carry them. Are you satisfied now?”

Porthos grinned, “Yo chief, peace.”

They went back to their chattering and I took report of our prisoners. Minerva had tried banging on the walls but upon seeing no effect sat down. Sergei was enjoying the view outside. His face was calm, I couldn’t understand why. We have about twelve hours of journey left. The facility is north of erstwhile Australia, more towards the West.

As per our information, it was a fortified compound with a 2.5 metre thick and ten metres high outer concrete wall enclosing an area of about ten square kilometres. Minarets, each about twenty metres high, were built in the wall at a gap of five hundred metres. Those minarets housed automated turrets. A guard was posted with each turret. Platoons of armed clones were posted in different pockets for added security. Some of the clones also operated mini nuke mortar systems. These mortars as per our knowledge had a range of about seven kilometres. There were a total of eight mortar teams. About one kilometre behind the outer wall, started the inner wall of same thickness as the outer wall. The area near the central building which happened to be the manufacturing facility was used as training grounds. The main facility started five hundred metres behind the inner walls whose entrance were a pair of blast doors. The central area of the facility served as the army barracks. Surrounding the barracks rose the main research and development facility. This facilitated fast deployment of troops if the complex came under attack. Every nook and cranny inside the building was under AI surveillance coupled with automated short range high power laser guns. The building was segregated into five levels, three above the ground and two below. Each level had sections for specific purposes. Will continue later. It’s time for lunch apparently. Few more hours and we will reach our destination.