There was a soft ping that rousted me from a deep sleep. It was the alarm I set to notify me that the other corporate contestants had completed their troop activations by “just add water”. Swinging my legs to the floor I ordered the lights up and threw on yesterday's clothes. There was no one here to impress except Squishy and Crunchy, who were all planetside –– and one roving Satellite AI. When I talked to my wife the video was from the waist up so I only had to change my shirt. She was still being hounded by creditors and “banking” problems as a constant reminder to me of the hold my corporation had on my life.
I was getting my space legs now and had turned off the artificial gravity in the hallways so I could easily glide from one place to another. So in order to gain my “space legs” I had to stop using my real legs, I pondered. Arriving in the control room I found Larry the AI waiting for me in his roving tin can. The screens were firing up, showing the round and flattened landscape of the northern hemisphere. The corporate satellites were spaced fairly evenly around the outside at this point and the landscape that each of the corporate units had revealed spread out from under each satellite. Each line spreads toward the middle objective: the polar ice cap. My eye was drawn to a pulsing red light in a previously explored area of Mars. Spreading my thumb and forefinger apart, the desert plain zoomed smoothly in, expanding the area and the resolution. Taller rocks cast pointy shadows in the late day sun and I could see a squad of Squishy, their glowing designation followed them as they walked around a large scorched crater in the desert. Conflict already? Except for some poaching the war hadn’t started in earnest yet. We hadn’t met anyone in the course of our exploration. Then I noticed something that made me reach for the comms button on my sleeve. “Uh 141?” I asked. “Captain, do you read?” “Yes sir, 141 here.” came the swift reply, but I was already in a mood today. “Uhm,” I say, “has anything violent occurred lately?” “Violent? Sir?” he replied. “Like an explosion?” “Yes,” I said, “Like an explosion. Like near the crater your units are currently circling, maybe?” “Oh, yeah, that. We’re still trying to figure that one out, sir.” Long pause. “Is there a particular reason the crater you are circling is designated as unit 1055?” I knew he was hundreds of miles away on the planet's surface, but it didn’t stop me from actually pointing to the green rectangle on my screen designating Crunchy unit 1055. The rectangle was stationary, a line connecting it to the smoking hole in Mars. The other caveats were dutifully following the Squishy units around the edge of the blast radius. It was then that I noticed that Captain 141’s green box was at least 10 klicks away from his units in the middle of an area listed as “recently explored”. I pushed the view in further and scrolled over to center his marker. There was nothing there except the shadow from a gentle rise in the surface. “Where are you 141?” “In a sort of cave or collapsed building, sir. We came across it as we were exploring and mapping this sector. The Crunchy said they ‘felt funny’ and moved right to this ruin.” he said as if that should explain everything. It was always a chore to work with humans that had been turned into unthinking meat puppets. “Ok,” I said calmly. “Was it alien tech? And what happened then?” We had been briefed that, obviously because the planet was shrouded from space by triggered alien technology, we may come across other alien tech. I hadn’t heard any rumors or boasting from other companies about having scored any, so perhaps I was the first to find some. “Well, the Crunchy led us to a control-panel-thingy that had a big hole in the middle.” was the response. It looked like I might have to ask again, but he continued, “Then I stuck my arm in the hole and it felt itchy. And then the Crunchy said they felt like they needed to go outside for a run.” “Just like that? A run?” “Yep. So they did.” He paused to think about it. “At least until I took my arm out of the hole. Then they stopped running fast.” Again a pause. A think. “Then I told them to come back, but they were in the next sector and it was taking them forever.” I zoomed out the Mars map to include the next sector and consulted the scale. Crap. That can’t be right. That’s almost twice their usual range. Before I could question it, 141 remembered something and chimed in again. “Oh, then when I put my arm back in the hole they came back fast.” “And 1055?” I nudged. “It exploded.” “When?” I asked. “Right after it got back.” cracked the reply. “Do we know why?” I asked. “Dunno. But I think they don’t go fast unless I have my arm in the hole.” he replied. I have a hunch about what may be happening, but I keep my opinion to myself. Instead I say, “141. You are to safety test the system by sending your Crunchy out and back while your arm is in the alien hole.” I pause. Better to be specific if you want the job done right. “When you’ve tested all your Crunchy 3 times, let me know the results.” “Yes sir! 141 out!” By the time I strapped myself in bed for the night rotation the results were in. For whatever alien reason, when biologicals interface with the alien control ‘hole’ good things happen to our mechanicals. Well, ‘good’ if you want to explore the planet faster – not so much if you’re the Crunchy that explodes. For the exploding Crunchy (there were 2 in the end out of 14 that exploded) I looked for any mechanical reason that might have come up and found that both exploded Crunchy were behind on their energy converter maintenance. So, this alien tech was just too much strain for some of the Crunchy and the results were unfortunately catastrophic. With this tech however, I could expand my empire in leaps and bounds and the odd explosion. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make. But, I was going to have to come up with a better name or I’d be laughing every time I had to say, ‘stick your arm in the Alien Control Hole’.
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The plaintive voice was tentative despite the clarity of the transmission.
“Hello? Can anybody hear me? Hello? My name is Lucy. I don’t know where I am. I’m stuck. Help? Anyone?” We had heard a few transmissions from the Squishy stuck in the Radioactive waste sector on Mars. They had started out as emotionless status reports on rad and fluid levels, suit operating condition and power levels. Regular reports of no enemy contact, weather conditions and request for maintenance support. After a while her information transmissions had descended into complete gibberish. The AI suggested to me that the radiation was interfering with whatever chemical and implant technology that made a real person into a military robot. And now this. It seemed like whatever blocks that were in place were no longer there. “I’m really thirsty. This tube that sticks out to my mouth was giving me water but now it’s dry. I seem to be stuck in a space suit?” she continued. “Hello? I don’t know if you can hear me? My name is Lucy. Can anyone hear me?” I sighed and keyed the microphone. “Hello Lucy, this is Stephen Morton on the Red Corporation satellite. I know you’re confused, so I will try to provide you with whatever answers I can.” “Oh thank goodness! Yes, yes, where am I? Am I even on Earth anymore?” Out of curiosity about how it worked I asked, “What is your last memory before waking up where you are?” “I had to report to the credit manager’s office at my bank. There was a problem with my credit card. It was a silly thing, really. They said I was behind on payments and I’m sure it was just lost in the e-transfer and I thought that if they just looked again they would see that all this fuss was for nothing.” “What happened then?” I asked. “Well, let’s see. When I walked into the office there was a man in a nurse uniform in the back, which I thought was a bit odd and I shook Mr. Long’s hand, that’s the bank manager,” she rattled on, “and then I think I was drugged? I remember feeling really strange and then the nurse guy came over to me. I think that’s when I must have blacked out?” She seemed unsure of herself. I checked to make sure the transmission was encoded and secure before I responded. “Okay Lucy. I can’t sugar coat this. I’m very sorry, but you have been made a Squishy because you defaulted on your credit payments. You were conditioned and your memory was walled away. You were transferred to a Red Corporation satellite in orbit around Mars and have been downloaded to explore and fight on the planet. You have unfortunately wandered into a radiation zone and are currently immobilized.” “A Squishy. Like in space dramas? I’m not a clone. This is ridiculous. You’ve got to get me out of here, right now! I know my rights! Call the emergency services!” She was now screaming. “Listen to me Lucy.” I said calmly. “You are stuck in a combat environment suit on Mars in a radioactive dump. You are dying. There is nothing we can do to help you and no one is coming to your rescue.” Larry the AI chimed in. “Sir, you have to replenish her water supply.” I stared at its floating tin can. “Why would I waste good water on that?” I threw a thumb in the direction of Mars. “Because,” it answered, “Ms. Kells has ordered that every unit must be resupplied with water before they will be counted as profit. Any units you do not supply with water will be immobilized remotely and terminated. She is quoted as saying that no company may use suicide tactics in unit placement to receive profit points in the competition. Proper supply chain management is key to success, she said.” “Also,” it continued, “only Crunchy occupying water resources and Squishy occupying any Mars terrain sector will be counted as profit making units.” My eyes narrowed as I considered whether Larry was kidding or not. “So we have to supply a perfectly good water ration to a Squishy that is going to melt from the inside out anyway?” “Yes, sir.” it replied. “Or her sacrifice doesn’t count as profit points.” Again I had to sigh. I keyed the mic. “Lucy, I’m very sorry. We can’t help you. I am having water shipped down to you so you won’t die of thirst at least. I promise you that your sacrifice and your… story will not die with you. Tell me more about yourself.” For the next hour I listened and tried to note as many details as possible. She received her water delivery and cried when she could drink from her hose again. Eventually her sentences started to run into one another. She cried some more and called out a person’s name. The AI informed me it was her mother’s name on file. There were long bouts of silence and then more word salad and soon there were no words at all. GET ON OUR MAILING LIST HERE TO RECEIVE CHAPTERS DIRECTLY! |
AuthorI hope you enjoy this tale that will help to describe the backstory and world of Mars Needs You! and will teach you the art of the game play. Archives
March 2020
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