Broken Stars Read online

  “We will start with calibrations then.” She tapped at her bracelet a couple of times. “This is an interface that allows me to connect to the local network and access data as well as control systems like the one controlling this room. The room is yours by the way. Once we get you up and running you can customize it however you like.” She looked up at me and smiled. “Okay, Tom, here we go.” Bridget tapped once more on her wrist.

  A host of sensations overwhelmed me. I huffed and took in shallow gasps. I felt not only the new extremities but my torso and original arm as well. There was the feeling of air on my bare skin, pain in my hips and left shoulder, and an itch in my joints that wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t move yet, so the itch threatened to drive me bonkers.

  After a moment, my brain processed all the information and the itching calmed to a more manageable level. My breathing evened out and I started to feel normal.

  “You doing okay?” Bridget asked?

  “Yeah,” I mumbled.

  “Okay, great! The next step is to initiate motor control. We need to take it slow so you don’t fall down. You tracking, Marine?”

  “I got you, take it slow,” I said.

  “Here we go.” Bridget tapped out a few more commands then looked up at me. “We will start with your flesh and blood arm. Go ahead and lift it and move it around.”

  I lifted my arm with no problem. It felt heavy and sluggish, but that had become the new normal since I … since the explosion. “How is it that you could stop me from moving my real arm?” I asked even though I was afraid of what she might say.

  “Well, aside from your limbs, we had to make some improvements. The damage was extensive, but I bet I don’t have to tell you that. We reinforced your heart and lungs which will increase your stamina beyond human norms and we upgraded all your organs. To answer the question about the lack of control, that comes from the improvements we made to your nervous system.”

  “So, you made me into some sort of tin soldier you can turn on and off at your whim like a toy?” I asked. Giving Bridget the benefit of the doubt was getting harder by the minute.

  “No, nothing like that, I swear it to you, Tom. Once we get you calibrated, I will sign control over to you and no one will be able to take control without your permission. I swear we will not use you like that. You can leave whenever you want, but I don’t think you will. But if you decide to, I will take you back to Terra myself and you can keep all the augmentation including your limbs. Deal?”

  How could I say no to that? “Deal, now let’s keep the party moving.”

  “Great! How does your arm feel?” Once again her grin disarmed me.

  “Feels the same as before,” I replied.

  “Just the same? I know you used to complain about it feeling weak since the attack.” She frowned and tapped at her wrist. “Now?”

  My arm moved with a lot more ease now. It shook slightly but not like it had. If I had placed my palm on the wall a few moments before there would have been a chance I’d have vibrated the place to pieces. “That’s better,” I said. “Now explain why I am here.”

  “Right. First, I am activating your other arm.” She tapped at her wrist once more. “And you are clear.”

  My arm made a slight whirring sound as I raised it. After moving it around a little, the sound died down. The appendage felt just like my original. Well, almost. It was steadier.

  “That is nice,” I said.

  “I’m glad you like it. Go ahead and get used to it while I start your history lesson. Myself and so many others were fed up with the old regime. We lived under a tyrant that killed anyone that questioned his rule without mercy. On top of that, he ruled with an iron claw.”

  “Fist.”

  “What?”

  “You said claw. The saying is, ruled with an iron fist.” I corrected her.

  “Yeah, except he had claws, so it fits. Aliens of all shapes and sizes. Anyway. Many of us gathered and formed a rebellion. We were almost obliterated. The tyrant had tech we hadn’t thought possible. If not for one of his scientist defecting, we would have been killed to the last person. Doctor Philig gave us a weapon and we fought back hard.”

  I stopped marveling at my arm long enough to ask a question. “What was the new weapon?”

  “A super soldier augmented with nanites to increase strength and stamina as well as form an impenetrable outer armor,” she said.

  “Nice.” I whistled my assent.

  “It was at first. We won out and freed the known universe. But the tyrant had a last present for us. He infected the soldiers with a virus, one that overwrote their minds and created monsters.”

  “So am I getting those nanites?” I asked with concern.

  “Oh no. Doctor Philig is responsible for the improvements made to your system but he made sure you couldn’t become a monster like them. No nanites infused your brain. It means you have to access systems like the rest of us, but you are still stronger and faster than most.”

  “So I get a cool bracelet like yours?” I asked.

  “Oh no, even better.” She tapped at her arm. “Built in holographic display.”

  A rectangle of light popped up above my artificial arm. A semicircle of a white line went up from the left bottom corner, climaxed in the middle and descended to the right corner. Evenly spaced on the line were several small circles.

  “Touch the left most circle,” Bridget said.

  I did as instructed and the circle opened up to take the whole of the rectangle. There was a square in the middle with a list of furniture on the left. The right had the word, 'balance,’ with a total of one thousand next to it. “What is this?” I asked.

  “It’s the interface for your room, this room. You can spend what you have to outfit the room and move the furnishings where you want by just dragging and dropping. This is just a taste of what that thing can do. Enough of that for now.” The hologram vanished. “Now we have to calibrate those legs of yours.”

  I gulped. A wave of anxiety washed over me. More than a year passed since I stood up, let alone walked again. My eyes welled up with tears and it took all the Marine Corps trained willpower in me to keep them from falling. Bridget waited but said nothing. I loved her for her silence in that moment.

  “I’m ready,” I said.

  “Okay.” Bridget tapped at her arm for a second. “You are go to stand, Tom. Please be careful.”

  I put my palms down on the arms of the chair with my elbows up. “Here goes … everything.” I pushed up with my arms and my legs. I raised up slowly until I stood erect. The world looked so much smaller from up there.

  “This is awesome,” I whispered.

  “It gets better,” Bridget said. “Go ahead and take a step.”

  “I can…” I swallowed back the moment of little bitch and prepared to do what needed doing.

  My left foot lifted off the floor and moved forward before hitting the deck. Then my right leg followed suit.

  “Aaaaand you have officially walked,” Bridget said. “How does it feel?”

  “It feels,” I chuckled. “It feels fucking great.”

  Bridget laughed. “I thought it might. Go ahead and walk around. I’ll make any necessary adjustments as you go.”

  Chapter 3

  After my legs were all set, Bridget left me to get used to them. She promised to come and get me for dinner and a tour of the ship.

  The first thing I did was put on the black cargo pants, blue t-shirt, and black boots Bridget left for me. Then, I pulled up the control panel for my room. The first three items on the list were exactly what I needed but I scrolled down the list to see what other options there were.

  Basic bed

  A twin sized bed with a set of white sheets, one pillow, and a navy blue blanket.

  Cost 500 credits

  Basic desk

  A small desk with a lamp

  Cost 250 credits

  Basic chair

  A small chair for use with the basic desk

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sp; Cost Already owned

  Basic locker

  A single door locker for storing clothing and personal effects

  Cost 200 credits

  Opulent Bed

  A queen-sized bed with simple headboard and includes one set of sheets, two pillows, a comforter and a body pillow.

  Cost 2500 credits

  I decided to stop there as I only had one thousand credits and no idea how I would earn more. I purchased the basic bed, basic desk and basic locker, leaving me with a whopping fifty credits. The image changed to a top down view of the room with the items I purchased sitting in the center. I chose an arrangement then shifted the layout just because I could. Once I hit confirm, the floor of my room shifted and rippled. The items grew up out of the dark metal of the floor taking the various shapes and changing color and texture.

  My ass hit the bed and I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable it was. Thirty three seconds later, I got up and paced the small room. Turns out, I had a new set of legs and nowhere to go. In the past year I’d spent more than enough time on my ass. It was time to stretch my legs.

  The door opened when I was a foot away from it. I stuck my head out and looked left and right. There was a long hall in the usual grey and white with evenly spaced doors. The reasonable assumption was crew quarters. Both left and right ended in a T intersection five doors down. Being a Marine, I went left. It was the foot we stepped off with when marching which usually influenced the direction I chose.

  At the end of the hall I was faced with the same choice and made the same decision, left. I went all of two steps when red lights started flashing that drowned out the white light and a claxon sounded.

  “All hands to battle stations! This is not a drill! All hands to battle stations!” An unfamiliar voice blared over the intercom.

  Besides the noise and lights, nothing happened at first. A few seconds later and I was dodging people left and right. The uniformity of their dress led me to believe they were all in the space navy, or whatever it was called. They all wore grey slacks with short sleeve button up grey shirts with a yellow patch on their left shoulders and shiny black shoes.

  The only thing anyone said to me was, “Make a hole!” Moving aside with no idea of where to go or what to do was difficult for me. So I grabbed a guy by the arm.

  “Watch it,” he said. He tried to pull away but I held on tight.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “Don’t know. I have to get to my station and find out. What is your station?” He asked with an annoyed look on his face.

  I shrugged. “Don’t have one.”

  “Get back to your quarters and hang tight.” He took off and I let him go.

  “Like hell I will,” I mumbled. I started in the direction most of the sailors were going. I went a couple of sections before the holographic display on my arm came to life. I moved to the side and checked it out as sailors rushed past.

  The screen was full of Bridget’s frowning face. “What are you doing there?” She asked.

  “Here seemed as good as anywhere,” I replied.

  “You should be in your quarters. You are not ready for combat.”

  “Already spent more than enough time on my ass. I needed to move around, and then this happened,” I said waving my free arm around.

  “Okay, I am sending you a map. Follow the marked path to the bridge, but you have to stay quiet and out of the way,” she said.

  Her face vanished and was replaced by a map of the ship. I turned and followed the arrow until it took me to a set of three elevators. The elevator was replaced by the word up so I pressed the ‘up’ button and waited. A few seconds later, I was in the elevator moving up. The doors opened right onto the bridge.

  I walked onto the bridge looking around. In front there was a large screen showing an image of space and a long spear shaped vessel. Just under the screen were two manned stations. In the center of the room were three chairs, two of which were taken. Between me and the chairs was a waist high table with nothing on it. Running along both sides of the room were a series of stations, most manned.

  “Come and have a seat, Mr. Penchant,” the man in the middle seat said over his shoulder.

  I joined him and Bridget. She waved me over to the seat next to her. “Tom, this is Captain Talbot.”

  I nodded at the man. “We are about to be boarded.”

  “What?” I was surprised by her nonchalant tone.

  “There are no augmented soldiers so we should be able to repel them with no problems, right, Captain?”

  “That is the hope, Senator, but …”

  “No plan survives contact with the enemy,” I interrupted.

  “Precisely,” the Captain responded.

  “Where do you want me?” I asked. There was a fight coming and I was itching to join. Before the explosion took my mobility, fighting was the only thing I was good at.

  “Right where you are,” Bridget said. “You Just got your new limbs, Tom. It would not be wise to send you into combat before you had a chance to see what you can do. No way, Tom.” Bridget scowled at me in concern.

  “Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” I grumbled.

  While we sat there doing nothing useful, we watched the action unfold on the big screen. Three smaller ships closed with ours. They attached themselves to the hull and extended a tube from the underside of the ships. The captain leaned over his chair and pressed a button on the console next to him. “Prepare to repel boarders,” He announced over the PA.

  The screen split into three different views, each a hallway where a group of men and women in body armor prepared their weapons. Round hull sections fell inward and white smoke wafted in, obscuring the view of their side of the hole.

  In one coordinated push, green bolts shot out from the holes. Several troops on our side of the engagement fell from the first volley in each section. Others rushed to fill the gaps, but more continued to fall as a rush of green bolts continued to fly.

  After a minute of steady return fire in which troops took turns firing and reloading, the fire from the holes stopped. I let out a breath as I thought it was over, but the Captain’s next words told the true story.

  “Now the fighting begins,” said Captain Talbot.

  Sure enough, a large man in black armor holding up a bar parallel to the deck walked out from the hole. Our troops responded with a volley of green energy blasts. The bolts hit a shield that only reveled itself as a network of golden hexagons when a bolt hit it. The stalwart shield kept all the bolts from finding homes in bodies as more black armored troops filed out. The shields did nothing to stop enemy fire from passing through.

  Screams of the dying filtered through the audio system as body after body hit the ground. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair watching the debacle they called warfare.

  “How much longer can we hold out?” I asked.

  “It doesn’t matter,” The Captain said. “Soon enough, they will spring our trap and those valiant men and women will have given their lives for the cause!”

  My stomach churned at those words. It was fanatical bullshit that never would fly in my Marine Corps. And it sure as hell wasn’t going to fly while I was around. I stood up.

  “Wait,” Senator Lorn said. “You can’t go out there, not now. We know how to do this, let us handle it.”

  “With all due respect, Senator,” I snapped, noting the pain that flashed through her eyes. “If you thought you were getting a guy that would sit idly by and watch while people died then you made a big mistake. I am not that man, never have been and never will be. Not even for you. I’m going.”

  “We have a plan,” the Captain snapped. “You will wait for us to be victorious!”

  “Fuck that noise. You want victory? Well you don’t get it by throwing away lives. You get it by fighting smarter than the other guy and trying your damnedest to keep your buddy alive. I’ve been here too long already.”

  I marched to the elevator and hit the down button and wa
s surprised to see an up button. Lorn joined me and pressed the up button.

  “The bridge is in the center of the ship. More secure that way. The closest engagement is up and there is an armory along the way. I’ll show you,” She said.

  I glared at the woman for a moment before nodding. While we waited, doubt crept in on me. What she said about going into battle with untested equipment was true, and could lead to failure or death, but me standing there watching the reaper go to town on those who were on my side was a no go. Not on my watch.

  The doors slid open and we climbed in. Lorn hit the button and up we went. A few minutes later, we were running down the hallway toward a door guarded by two men in armor comprised of small dark grey plated covering vital areas.

  “Stand clear,” Lorn yelled. “We need to get geared up.” I wondered at the word ‘we’, since it was just going to be me, whether she thought so or not. Going into battle alongside an untested partner was worse than untested gear. I had no clue what her capabilities were and I wasn’t about to put my life in her hands without seeing what she could do. Her title made me think fighting might not be her forte.

  The guards moved aside and Lorn led me into a large room full of all kinds of equipment I had never seen before. She moved to a rack and pulled free a rifle looking device. “This is close enough to the rifles you are used to that it shouldn’t be difficult to use.” She passed me the weapon. “It’s loaded and has a thousand shots of small projectiles magnetically accelerated.”

  She then went to a shelf and pulled off a piece of equipment that looked like body armor. “Arms up,” she said. I raised my arms and she pressed it to my chest. The armor wrapped around my back and stuck there. “Okay, that should do for now. Let’s move.” I nodded but wondered how this small piece of armor that only covered my pecks and upper back was going to do what I needed. Then I figured it must generate an energy field like the one the big guy in black used.

  As we got closer to the fighting, I heard and felt the deep thrumming of the energy weapons firing. I also heard the screams of the people Captain Talbot was so eager to sacrifice. Lorn led me to a corner and stopped just short of going around. She peeked through and pulled back to look at me. “It’s just ahead,” she said. “In three, we will …’