8 Trials Deep

CHAPTER 16: THE NEXT GENERATION ALWAYS SURPASSES

RF-13 gasped and bolted upright only to hit his head onto something hard. Before he could register his surroundings a deafening roar bombarded his ears he recoiled in shock, “You fool, if you ever do that again I’m going to come up to you and personally skin you alive!”

“Do you know what could have happened if I was not able to pull you out on time?!” Leta continued shrieking. “Do you have a death wish?!”

There was a short silence followed by RF-13 curling his body on that small confinement. “Hey... What’s going on? Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?” Leta shifted gears from roaring furiously to softening her voice, as if coaxing.

When the collision was just a hairsbreadth away, she had forcibly invaded the virtual control and pulled out RF-13 from the virtual dimension. However, she had done it in panic, she had not calculated or considered any neural backlash it might have on RF-13.

She was frowning anxiously as she surveyed his trembling body when a sudden roar of laughter erupted. There was a moment of confusion before all the blood had rose to Leta’s head, she would have bodily strangled RF-13 right there and then if he was anywhere within her reach.

The young man took sometime before his high abated. However, as he spoke to Leta he was met by silence. The other had already cut the connection. He sent a connection request but the line had remained quiet. He attempted a few more times but finally had to give up when the 15th request went unanswered.

It looks like he had really crossed over the line this time. He was deliberating whether to go after Leta in the virtual network when his gateway port was opened by a tall figure, it was RF-06.

“That was brilliant!” RF-06 clapped him on the back with unrestrained force. If he had a willowy figure he would have been thrown on the ground already. As it was, RF-13 had a slender sturdy body and he had already been quite accustomed by RF-06 unheeding ‘boulder’ pats.

“I didn’t know you had such impressive maneuvers mate!” RF-06 continued, “I never even thought you could use a reconnaissance ship in attack! Let’s do a battle royal in the simulation next time!” Apparently RF-06 didn’t need him in the conversation at all and proceeded on his on for quite some time.

When he was finally out of breath, RF-13 took the opportunity to interject, “You don’t need to be so wired, in the end all of us failed to clear the mission.”

“Are you kidding?!” the other elbowed him without a warning. Fortunately, Rf-06 reflexes were still sharp and he dodged just in time, RF-06’s elbow was no laughing matter. He had experienced it once and from then on had remained ever wary against the other’s elbow movement.

RF-06 ecstatically clapped him on both arms and pushed him towards the elevated seats, the crowd had begun standing one by one and a thunderous applause rang in the coliseum. Even the ones seating on the front had to join into the standing ovation.

“What is this?” RF-13 asked, puzzled. “Was there a change in the mission?”

He was dragged to the backstage by RF-06. Some of the other contenders had nodded towards him, as if in gratitude. Some furtively glared towards his direction but the prince eyed him with open hostility. RF-13 passed by him indifferently, which seemed to outrage prince Vintan more.

RF-06 pushed him towards a room. When he stepped in, he found that it was full of old men and a few middle-aged. He was asked to seat on a lone chair in front of the crescent seated elders.

Leta wasn’t discovered was she? RF-13 thought. He could feel his heartbeat suddenly quickening, his palms becoming sweaty. He had to make a conscious effort to appear calm. Maybe his reckless action had really jeopardized Leta’s secrecy during the simulation.

Then he heard the man seating at the middle ask something that made him pause, “Pardon?” RF-13 asked, he was not sure he heard right.

The old man smiled indulgently and repeated, “Congratulations for getting second place on the first trial. That was an impressive performance, young man.”

RF-13 stared with a blank expression for a fraction of a moment before he replied with a “Thank you...” He had said this with hesitation that the statement sounded more of a question.

Laughter rang in the room as the others couldn’t help from laughing at the young man’s honest lost expression.

“You must be confused, no doubt,” said the gray-haired man seating at the middle elder’s right. “As you were informed during the onset of the trial, the mission was to successfully breakout of the confinement cells on the mothership and aid the settlement until the backup arrives. With a military background I am sure you’re aware that this scenario was inspired by the incidents of the Novian Tragedy.”

RF-13 nodded, still not understanding what the point was.

The older man continued, “You were able to escape the high security confinement and even had the foresight to release your fellow contenders. Whether it’s a strategic or a sympathetic move, I’m leaning towards the latter. No doubt you knew that you would not be able to stand against the pirate force alone. Whichever way you acquired the master codes or who your backer is we are quite curious. However, since it is not against the rules to accept external help during the trials or to make use of a patron’s support, we can’t force you to disclose it.”

There was a long pause, as if the speaker was waiting for the other to reply, to disclose something. When the young man remained silent, the other resignedly continued, “After you and the other contenders, most notably your classmate Rf-06, sank commander Hastam Morgan’s forces, you were left to face another group of hostiles alone. I don’t if you had already realized it but the second wave of pirates you encountered were the invading forces, the ones attacking Novian Settlement. Apparently, commander Hastam had sent for backup and the assaulting Praedo pirates had retreated from the Novian territory to aid Hastam. When you drove your reconnaissance ship towards the mothership and triggered a chain explosion, the remaining warships retreated.”

The room had gone quite. Some of the elders still could not believe the outcome of the simulation. Almost all of them had witnessed the grief and following disasters after the Novian tragedy. It had happened during their lifetime, it was the dark age of the Lychinus Empire.

The kingdom’s leaders and the military had sought an answer, an alternative course of action that could have turned the tragedy around. The Novian simulation was a mandatory test that those who were after generalship promotions had to go through. And until the Trials, none had worked out a different route that led to a satisfactory ending. The closest they were at was the successful evacuation of three stealth roverships. Even then, the three ships carried only a tenth of the original Novian population. That feat was performed during Morret’s time. His students had surpassed him by leaps and bounds.

“Congratulations, that was truly an extraordinary feat”, the middle man repeated. Applause once again rang in the room.

This time RF-13 thanked them in a firm voice, though with less enthusiasm than they had anticipated. The elders had expected the young man to be in the least, elated. The other cadet had even shot up from his seat and did a complete run around the room when he had learned of the simulations ending. However, RF-13 simply bowed with a polite thank you and made for the door.

When he was at the door, the young man turned and asked with a hint of hesitation, “Can you tell me how I was drafted for the contender’s list?”

The elders immediately understood RF-13’s line of inquiry. He had probably already noticed that among the hundreds of selected contenders, only the two of them were Reserved Force. All the other contenders had come from the upper tier of the society. Even RF-06 belonged to the prominent family of the Pontus ruling party. It didn’t need close analysis for one to recognize that the young man was scarlet sheep in a herd of alabaster ships.

The elders exchanged glances before an old man on the left most spoke, RF-13 recognized him as the General of the Armies, the highest ranked military official. He spoke in a contemplative tone, “You were a recommendation by an influential man from the academy. And let me just say it was not me or any man in this room.”

RF-13 nodded and walked out of the room. He understood, there was only one person he could think of. Morret. The jarhead was not the director of the Armed Forces Academy. However, RF-13 had longed observed that he had somehow exerted a certain extent of power in making pivotal decisions in the military institute.

He sighed. Morret’s throwing him into situations had actually benefitted him for once. Now he just had to hold on until the third stage.

An attendant once again guided him out of the coliseum towards their accommodation area on the royal residence. It was an impressive edifice, all the pomp and wealth of the royal family reflected on its grandeur.

RF-13 followed the attendant to his room. He was hoping to immediately go into the virtual dimension when he was met by RF-06’s tall figure. The other had been walking back and forth in front of his doors. When he saw him, RF-06 revealed a hesitant apologetic expression.

RF-06 rushed towards him and said, “I just heard of it after you were in the room. I personally went to the Royal Affairs Division to contend against the decision but they wouldn’t hear me out. You need to know that personally I believe you deserve it more than –“

“What are you talking about?” RF-13 interrupted him.

The other paused, too a deep breath and said, “I was ranked first place.”

“Congratulations,” RF-13 said. “Now what is the problem?”

RF-06 looked at him confused, “I-I thought you would be angry that ousted you.”

RF-13 was even more confused. He pushed the figure blocking the door to his room, stepped in, turned and patted RF-06’s head while saying, “I don’t see what the racket is all about. Congratulations, you did well. Now go to your room and don’t bother me for the time being.” Then RF-13 closed the door on RF-06’s face. He made sure to lock it just in case that barrel of inexhaustible energy still wanted to play. RF-13 was exhausted, but even more important he needed to go to the virtual dimension.

He took a quick shower and waited on the room. After a few hours he began pacing back and forth. He tried to distract himself by reviewing the broadcast videos of the first trial but his eyes still kept darting towards his MA. After another hour passed RF-13 was done waiting. He began fiddling with his MA when a communication request came in but it was not Leta. Suppressing his frustration, he straightened out his expression and exhaled.

A beeping sound rang as the communication connected, A-343’s holographic image stood in the room. His sister, as he expected, began with a long train of mild expletives as she described how she would pluck every hair on his body from the top of his head to the tip of his toe and boil him on scorching vat if he tried any stunt close to flying head-on against a mothership again. RF-13, who had already learned his lesson from Leta, assured her that no similar occurrence would happen in the future.

When she had calmed down, RF-13 asked about C-37’s condition. Knowing the twins, C-521 had probably taken apart a network connected device and made an improvised transmission receiver. C-37 would be able to tap in to the network and intercept the feeds of the Trials. RF-13 had seen the two do similar tricks in the past. He had been called by the development institute’s director every time. However, this time, if C-37 was well enough to be at his old tricks, it would ease RF-13’s mind a little. Ever since he left the two to A-343 his mind would still unconsciously wander to C-37’s condition. It was as if an unstoppable month-long sandglass followed him around.

A-343 had known RF-13’s mind revolved around the two. So she had pulled all the strings she could reach and even those she couldn’t to get a renowned doctor and scientist to see C-37. Fortunately, the doctor happened to be formulating a regenerative agent that he wanted to test on a Degulos patient.

Though Degulos cases were not really rare, Degulos patients were, they often died too quickly for medical scholars to conduct a thorough study on the effects of medication. The study could not be continued on dead cells as the disease died with its host. When transferred on other living organisms, the disease would mutate to a form of cancer unique to the organism. The doctor had practically jumped on the offer.

Leta assured him that C-37 was holding on. The regenerative agent was able to slow down the disease. However, the doctor advised them that it would only add to the days of the patient but the medication was not advanced enough to cure the disease. Leta asked if he wanted to speak with the two but RF-13 shook his head, it was not the right time.