Jupiter was above me, an orange brown gas giant a million miles away. I was doing a routine check on the Engines. We were to fire them in a day for a gravitational assist slingshot for the return to Earth, as half of our supplies had gone bad.
I floated down towards the main engine, a massive engine that can give off 20 kilonewtons of force when turned on. I opened the panel and was met with the panel looking fine and normal, I ran several tests and signals were being received as fine.
I couldn’t actually fire the engines as I am next to it, but a signal test should be fine. I then moved to the valves where they had no leakages, which was good and then I moved to check the paneling around the engine, which wasn’t looking too good. I didn''t have the equipment on me to fix it so I just radioed in.
“Maintenance we have some slight damage on the paneling around Engine 2, and I do not have the equipment to fix it on me right now, over.” I said into the radio, the crackling came from the radio and I scratched my nose on the velcro stuck to the front of my helmet.
There wasn’t an immediate response.
“Maintenance? Over.” I said once more.
There was only background radio noise, so I checked my transmitter which was somewhat small but had an impressive range of several thousand miles.
I looked at the radio and saw the transmitter was extended, and it was on too. So why would I not be sent or received?
I sighed and I would need to tell them about that issue.
I turned around and was about to get back to work checking on everything. However the ship wasn’t around me, my tether was gone and I was just over jupiter. I looked down and up to my left, and to my right, and behind me there it was the ship. The engines fired without me even noticing, the tether was just flinging getting dragged along by the nuclear engines.
My breath began to hitch up, I desperately tried to get the jetpack online in a futile attempt to chase the ship, but it wouldn’t work. I looked at the tank, the oxygen was venting yet I didn’t feel the force to the side, and a second look showed me the pack was just gone a white dot flying away.
“Fucking hell.” I sputtered, as I began to cry “Why?” I asked in between whimpers “Why?” Was all I can say as even Jupiter was flying away.
Was I hated? Was this a punishment? For what though?
Curling up into a ball, I just held that fetal position just accepting my fate. The stars began to suddenly stretch, become red for the ones going farther away, and blue for the on coming ones, and eventually disappear into darkness.
Was I going faster than the speed of light? The only light I had was my helmet light and I couldn’t see anything outside.
I just sat there in the fetal position for what felt like hours, alone with my thoughts. I should’ve suffocated by now, yet I hadn''t. I just sat there with my own mind and the darkness of being faster than light.
I checked my internal clock and it was 2133, I was here in this suit for 5 years. What? Why did the date just suddenly jump?
Then the stars suddenly reappeared, and a yellow dwarf that looked like the sun appeared off in the distance.
Then I saw a pale blue dot rapidly approaching.
Earth?
No, it was not Earth as the continents came into view. It was completely wrong, and then I hit the atmosphere at orbital speeds.
I gave only a whimper as I felt myself burn-
I shot up out of my cot, the light blanket falling down from my chest. I felt sweaty, and my palms felt constricted. I looked around and saw I was in a place I didn’t recognize for a few moments. Then I recognized that I was in the bunker, my office.
“What was the nightmare about?” I mumbled, as the nightmare was now just a distant memory.
I didn’t know the time and I just simply decided to prepare for the day.
I was in my undershirt and my pants, I probably took it off sometime earlier in the night.
I lit the lantern lighting up the divided cramped room, I pulled my feet off the cot, and onto the floor. I immediately began looking for my shirt, it was laying on the ground. I grabbed it and threw it on, Igrabbed a pair of socks and put them on, then my boots. I pulled on my yellow armband signifying my rank as an officer.
It wasn’t cold in the bunker at all, and was warm so I didn’t bother putting on my trench coat. I left the makeshift room, and I saw the dark empty office space lit somewhat well by the lantern.
I moved to my desk, grabbed my spellbook and clipboard, and moved the gun rack on the back of the room and grabbed my SMG, and shouldered it.
I went back into the divided area and turned off the lantern, throwing the room into darkness.
I then went towards the door and headed out in the somewhat lit hallway. Some people were up surprisingly enough, although I could’ve overslept or woke up early I didn’t know.
“Good morning ma’am, breakfast is going on right now.” A person said, as I walked down the hallway.
“Alright, I will keep that in mind.” I said, giving a yawn. “What time is it?” I asked the person passing me.
“About 7:30 or so I don''t have a clock.” He answered.
“Alright, thank you.” I said.
I was actually hungry and began following the signs saying “cafeteria this way.” I arrived at a side door that led outside towards the trenches, I exited it and saw it was clear of any trenches, just a secluded door in the ground.
There was no snow meaning it was above freezing, and it felt like it was way above freezing. It was nice in fact. A low morning mist was hovering over the brown ground and trees.
Nobody recognized me except for the arm band, but no one saluted me nor did I ask to be saluted so I continued on my way. I saw a small sign saying, “breakfast line is here” and there was a small line with people waiting in line with plates.
I joined the line quietly with a few people talking and laughing. It was surprisingly lively, eventually I reached a spot with the aforementioned plates with a lot of metal forks just laying there in a large bowl.
There was a sign saying, “Grab only one plate and one fork, no seconds.” I grabbed a plate and a fork and entered the makeshift line.
There were dozens of chefs managing the line, with spatulas filling the plates with a single meat.
The chefs didn’t wear anything specific, just a piece of clothing likely looted from a dead person.
A small slab of meat was placed on my plate as I said “Good morning.” To the Chef.
“Good morning.” The chef responded to me as I exited to the line, there was no need to check out at all. It seems they trusted people and didn''t go back for seconds.
I looked around the open field, there was not much in terms of furniture however, just people sitting on the ground around raised parts of the ground acting as a table.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Someone tapped me on the shoulder, I looked behind me and saw Ronin. He gave me a big smile and waved.
He pointed towards a spot near a still unfilled trench, there sat Major shark, Hans Gunther and several others that were likely a part of Sharks company.
“Oh you guys want me to sit with y’all?” I asked.
Ronin simply nodded and moved to the trench. I followed him, and when Ronin sat down a girl cuddled him, I ignored the two.
“Good morning Colonel.” Shark said to me.
I responded “Good morning Major Shark.” I responded, cutting into the soft meat and taking a bite out of it. It tasted like bitter pork, a taste I was all too familiar with, Especially after the multi trillion dollar waste of the Pluto Expedition.
The others said good morning.
I looked at Shark and said, “What are you doing here, I thought you were at the Broken Wall?”
“Well, my lieutenants told me to get some sleep at around midnight and they said they’ll handle everything there while I rest. I am going to return by 9 AM or so, don’t worry about me ditching my job.” Shark said, tearing a chunk of meat with his fork.
I took another cut out of my meat, as everybody talked with Gunther and Shark surprisingly enough, occasionally speaking in Japanese to Ronin.
“I never knew you could speak Japanese Shark?” I asked, taking a bite out of my meat.
“I thought an astronaut who worked with Japanese and Chinese Astronauts, would know Japanese?” Shark shot back.
I narrowed my eyes at him and swallowed my meat, “You don’t need to dox me like that, and also how do you know who I am?” I asked.
“Well you should know the answer to that, especially since you’ve met me before, did you forget Washington?” He said.
Gunther stood up immediately and said “It seems like we are eating with high standing members of the US, as such I and the others will be taking our leave.”
The other people at the table looked confused and I held out my hand to stop him. “No, no it''s alright you can stay. I just never knew this middle aged general of the U.S knew Japanese and plays video games.” I said.
“I never knew a traumatized genius playboy of an engineer, who really should’ve been working, really plays video games and for four hours straight mind you.” Shark shot back.
I looked at Shark annoyed and said, “You really didn’t have to dox me like that.”
Shark sighed and continued, “Well, if you want to know, it has to do with the fact that I needed to know how to speak Japanese, especially during the War when I had to interrogate captured soldiers as a concern they’ll be tortured endlessly by justifiably angry men.”
I sighed and changed the discussion to something more interesting. “So I''d like to ask how the defenses are going, has anything new happened in the past night?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Last I checked we’ve built a wall and have set up some trenches alongside landmines and barbed wire, outside the gate in front of the broken wall. Throughout the entire night nothing attacked.” Shark answered.
“That''s good, keep me updated. I''ll need you to leave the walls with a force if they attack again. Although I’ll likely lead that force myself, despite your qualifications.” I said taking a cut out of the soft meat.
“That sounds exactly like you.” Shark said, as I shot him a simple glare.
We continued eating in silence with only the sounds of other people talking in the distance, and the clinking of our forks cutting the soft meat.
I finished my food and sighed, “I’ll be taking my leave, and I’ll be at the river figuring out something to do while I wait for noon to see what Silenz and Fish have planned.” I stood up and began to leave.
Ronin said something in Japanese, Shark said, “Ronins asking if he can join you.”
“Sure, but Ronin needs to learn English.” I said, “but does he know where I am going?”
“Yes he does, we told him.” Gunther said.
“Alright good,” I motioned for Ronin to follow as the two of us followed some signs that led to the river with a bunch of dishwashers.
“Please place your dishes in this pile here.” The sign pointed towards an ever growing pile of plates that is being desperately washed by a group of dishwashers and moved by men.
“I’m guessing Buzz came up with this idea?” I mumbled.
Ronin was still behind me just watching.
“Come on, let''s go find Fish.” I told Ronin not knowing if he understood.
We continued on and found a lot of people working together trying to cut down a somewhat large tree whose trunks were wide enough to fit a person in it. Fish, and Shadow were commanding their respective companies in chopping down the tree. Which had quickly fallen down from the dozens of men and women working together in cutting it down.
Followed by the men and women moving to the branches and quickly removing them, their tools hacked away at the branches.
I saw Fish giving orders to the company, “Save the longest branches for fishing rods!” He turned to a group of men messing with tall stalks of small plants that were brown. “Remember how I taught you guys to get the core out of the wood.”
“Hello Fish.” I said.
Fish turned to me “Good Morning Ceo, you already here to ask about my plan?” He asked.
“Yeah, you are already working on it, why not tell me.” I said.
It was easy to guess what Fish decided to try and make as his initial plan.
Fish nodded and began explaining, “There are several things to it, firstly I am trying to make a rope, which is what the guys over there with the thick branches are doing, specifically they are getting the core out. The guys that are at the tree are working on cutting out a section of the tree to make a boat.” He then turned back to the boat people “When you start to cut the boat make sure to remove the core in the cleanest way possible for the rope team to work with.” Fish said.
“You know a lot about how to make a rope.” I said.
“I had to know it because it was a part of my end of year research paper in my Ecology class for my senior year.” Fish answered.
“Senior Ecology Class? You''re 18?” I asked.
“Yes, I am just. I also like playing games. Although I’ve never actually attempted to try and make a rope out of plants. Did you know you can also filter out water with tree xylem?” Fish answered.
“I saw a video on it years ago, but never actually did it.” I said.
“Well yeah plants can filter out water pretty good, but water isn’t an Issue for us right now. But the plan is to make rope and string for fishing rods, nets, and build boats. Village is over there. I think his plan is to cut down trees for a bridge.” Fish said.
I looked over and several hundred feet away and I saw a dozen men moving logs towards the bank of the river and hitting them down.
“I think they might need some ropes as well, you need more people making ropes?” I asked.
“No, I already have around 100 people making ropes, more than enough for all our needs for now.” Fish said.
“Alright, get back to work I’ll be taking my leave.” I said.
“Will do.” Fish said as I walked away with Ronin following me.
I turned to Ronin as we passed a squad clearing out a trench of all its items, there was a pile of logs and nails near it. “You heard that, Ronin?” I asked the kid.
He looked at me, and just tilted his head not understanding.
“We really need to work on your english.” I said, then an idea crossed my min.d “Let''s tell you the name of things, that there is a Machine Gun.” I pointed towards an abandoned MG gun in a nest, no one was in it, not interested in it currently. “Machine gun.” I said again.
Ronin pointed at the MG, and attempted to copy what I said with some success.
“Yes, good.” I said, as we arrived at where Village was, he wasn’t even that far from Fish.
Village was busy giving orders to a group of engineers who were busy placing a long log into the water that was waist deep, “See if the log will stand if you hit it down.” The engineers attempted to hit the log down into the ground.
It was as tall as some of the men but those tall men were somewhat successful in getting it to stand.
“Good now get the other one down, 6 feet away the first log should suffice.” Village ordered.
The men did as ordered and brought another log in.
“Village.” I said, approaching him.
Village turned towards me, “Oh, Colonel hello. How long were you here for?”
I answered “Long enough to see your men start on the first log.” I said.
“Oh, so I am assuming you are here to see how I plan to get across?” Village asked.
“Yep, it''s a bridge I know that much.”
“The plan is to place down the logs as far as we can place them, without having to swim to the logs there. We already know the depth of the river which is around 50 feet, pretty deep meaning we cannot cross it with a bridge it’ll have to be by boat.” Village explained.
I raised an eyebrow at him, “So what are you building?” I asked.
“A dock, mostly so we don’t lose whatever boats we do build. Eventually we are going to build a large raft that can move a lot of stuff from one side to the other.” Village explained.
“So it''s Fish''s job to get across the river?” I asked.
“Well he is the one building the boats, I am just building the infrastructure for him to help make his boats.” Village explained.
“Alright.” I said, nodding “then how''s the clean up going?” I turned towards the miles of trenchline that was being systematically filled up by hundreds of men.
Village looked at the direction I was looking at, “The clean up is going good, we are mostly ignoring individual foxholes, but whatever is on the main lines got to go, we have all the dirt we could possibly need. It''s simply moved up to make the trenches just to fill them back in, but we also are taking the wood and nails that are in the trenches.”
“Alright, that''s good we need planks.” I said.
“Go get back to work, I’ll be checking on Silenz. Do you know where he is currently?” I asked.
Village shook his head, “I am not sure myself actually, I think he is waiting for the trench lines, and mines to get cleared up before starting. It''s not like we have anything to plant at all either, so I am not surprised if he doesn’t want to do agriculture without the seeds.”
“I understand, I’ll find him myself, get back to work.” I turned away and began heading towards the rear trenchline and bunker.
Ronin followed right behind me, and he tapped me on the shoulder.
I turned to face him, “Yes.” I asked.
Ronin was pointing at a trench line, or specifically a foxhole that had an abandoned AT rifle in it.
“What about it?” I asked.
He pointed again, then I remembered, “Oh, the name that''s an Anti Tank Rifle.” I pointed the gun, “Anti Tank Rifle.” I repeated.
Ronin copied what I said, and jumped into the foxhole, picked up the bolt action rifle with the glowing blue attachment. Wasn’t sure what the name of the device that allowed the explosive potential of the gun.
He came back up and held it like a kid found a cool rock, smiling to himself. “Careful with that thing it can blow up a person.” I said.
Ronin shouldered the AT rifle, he wasn’t in his flamethrower equipment today. Although it''s not like he is going to fight right now, he didn’t need it.
We continued on towards the command bunker, passing other frontline bunkers whose doors led up out of the ground with the trenchline it connected quickly being cannibalized for whatever is valuable.
We continued on, with us passing more and more intact trenches that weren’t being filled or cannibalized for their planks and nails.
We arrived at the main bunker, and I saw Silenz speaking with Shark.
I approached the two, with Ronin seemingly instinctually stopping following me.
“Silenz, Shark hello. I didn’t expect you two to be talking with each other.” I said.
Silenz and Shark turned to me “Oh, Colonel.” Silenz said “I was just talking to Shark over here, about how to procure seeds and food from outsiders. Especially since you were attacked by a somewhat large army which you guys were able to thwart easily.” He explained.
I quickly realized what Silenz was getting to, “You think that the Goblins can farm?” I asked.
Shark stepped forward and spoke, “Yes, it was I who came up with the idea and sent it to Silenz especially since I heard he was trying to solve our food problem we’re going to have in 3 months.”
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
Shark gave a smirk, “We go find their villages, and take all of their food and grain.”
I gave a smirk back “That sounds like a plan, a desperate one that I can get behind.”