Bob Jackson sighed, looking at the scrawny figure of Ellowyn walking out of the bathroom. Having worked with Tom for a dozen rough years, he thought that he could understand Tom well, until today. He had tried hard to keep his poker face, not wanting to reveal his utter puzzlement when Tom told him about the adoption. $500 credits says she won’t be staying after tonight. He thought sadly. He was no sexist, but all of the previous candidates, all female, had left. The bravest of the lot managed a month before she collapsed out of fright. He couldn’t blame them, they all had expected a lavish, fancy life, only to have that vision shattered by the brutal scene of battles. And she is what, a sheltered, no, imprisoned damsel, he gave up on guessing why Tom had picked her.

“Relax, kid, I’ve been doing my job for the last 12 years, and never had they been able to touch the inner areas. To be honest with ya, I was going to guard outside of your door like I did with the previous... guests. I know you’re not comfortable with me here, but Tom wanted to be extra cautious” His sharp, navy eyes gazed at her, extruding calmness and reassurance. “He is probably doing this out of guilt!”

Seeing her flinched a little at his booming laugh, which echoed through the room. His heart throbbed, he knew for certain the frail thing would cower under the covers, wishing for the sounds of explosions, the screeching of wounded animals and the crunching of metal to disappear. He had urged the building manager numerous times to reinforce the sound proof mechanism of this room, but the screechers always use an improved, more complex pattern of resonate waves to bypass the walls. Taking out 2 ear plugs from his pocket, he looked into those lucid, innocent eyes, trying to express as much reassurance and safety as he could.

“When the battle begins, you might want to put these on, they’ll block some of the ... unpleasant sounds. Listen, these sounds might seem a little scary, but they are harmless. You are completely safe here”. He said, stressing the last sentence.

“You do not have to speak to me like that, I am 18 you know. And will the sounds hurt my ears if I don’t put those on?” Her wispy question was calm as she slightly tilted her head.

“No, they are harmless, though you might feel more at ease when they are blocked”. He raised his eyebrows, She should have started to panic right now. He thought, but the girl in front of him showed no fear, just curiosity.

“Then is it fine if I don’t put them on? I also want to watch the battle, I assume that these are screens?” She pointed at the black rectangle on the wall.

For seconds, he just stood there, staring at her with widened eyes. Has she no idea of what will happen? Blinking and snapping out of his daze, he knelled down at her eye level, his arm gripping her shoulders.

“I know that you are very curious, but the battle can be rather ... graphic. I don’t think you will like the violent scenes. There will be screaming, even some blood when the invading ... creatures are brought down. I would really recommend against you watching it, not until you are older”. He struggled to find the right words, to not frighten her but in a way, making her feel repulsed at the scenes.

“I told you, I am not a child. I think I can handle a little blood and gore. It is alright, I promise that I won’t fret. And I can always turn it off when things gets too ... unpleasant”. She tried to reassure him with a modest smile.

He shook his head. “There is no stopping you eh. Alright, if that is what you want, then I won’t stop you. Just don’t blame me if you ever get scared, ok? Ah, before I forget”. He pulled a small box shaped device from his pocket and handled it to her. “You can use this phone to contact me, Tom or the service maids if you need anything”.

Ellowyn was ecstatic, Yes! My first scifi phone, but why does it look so similar? She mused, the small phone was the same size as a smart phone of her world, she was expecting it to be at least slimmer. At least it looks futuristic. She mused, staring at the edges at each of the four corners. Now how to turn it on? She fumbled with the phone, counting and guessing at which small glowing square was the power button.

“Don’t how to use it?” Bob asked, showing an amused smirk when she nodded helplessly. “There is a detachable clip at the back, clip it on your shirt and then press the power button at the top there”. He pointed.

She gasped, the moment she pressed the power switch, the phone flew out of her hands. Each of the four corners released a jet of blue exhaust. She gawked at the hovering platform. The small rectangle on top started glowing before it projected a hologram of a 3D plane, holding various windows and buttons.

“You can interact with the buttons and windows by flicking your finger over them” He explained.

3D touch screens, Awesome! Her eyes twinkled as she tried to control her nerdgasm. Most features were already available on the phones of her previous world, but now they looked much cooler with another dimension added. She opened contacts and tried calling Bob.

Bob raised his eyebrows, expecting his phone to ring. “Right, I had it on silent, sorry”. He had to make sure it won’t interrupt his You’re Safe speech.

She scowled, with such a large 3D screen, it would be tiring to have to swing her arm everywhere.

“There are also special gestures and voice command, but it will take some time to learn those”. He answered her unspoken question.

“How do I charge it?”

“Leave it within 5 feet of the nearest charger”. He pointed at a small blue box on the small case next to her bed.

Analyze device. She had completely forgotten about the system.

Device not recognized, possibly a newer model, would you like to view the most similar model?

Yes.

Zyler XK series, ...

She did not bother to look at the features, most of them were put there for marketing purposes. Display components. Blue lines ran out from different parts of the phone, labeling its name. She drooled. Unknown but super advanced processors, Hologram projector, and fucking ION THRUSTERS? She gaped, thinking whether her phone was any different from a state of the art spacecraft.

“Ahem! I’m sorry, but I need to teach you how to use the TV before the battle starts, I need to make a few calls after this, could you hand me one of the rings on that shelf? You should also wear one”

TV remote control: used to operate XX TV. Gestures: Not found in database

She frowned, it seemed she’ll need to learn the gestures manually.

Bob wore the ring and waved his finger, the TV turned on. Three hologram screens materialized, each slightly adjacent to each other. They were showing a news channel. He made some more gestures and the TV changed to the view of a camera, showing the forests outside her home. “This is the highest camera, I suggest you view this first to get the gist of the battle, but if you want to change, just flick your ring left and right, excuse me, I’ll be right back”. He closed the door.

She chuckled, hearing parts of his yelling conversation.

“ ... World of Minecraft ... dungeon run ... all night? .... don’t prepare .... I’LL CUT YOUR INTERNET! ... 100 push ups if you don’t invite me next time....”

She relaxed, if Bob’s only concern was his troops making dungeon runs without him, it meant the incoming raid wasn’t as concerning of an event as she thought. Her subconscious poked, realizing the obvious flaws of that conclusion, but she simply ignored it. She stared at the ring on her hands, thinking of ways to learn the gestures. Her eyes gawked at the new system suggestion. She grinned and made an action that all rational rabbits would. Gulp. she threw the ring into her mouth and swallowed it.

Tastes like metal, opsy. The instruction didn’t tell her to swallow. She felt the ring sliding down her esophagus and into her still slightly bloated stomach.

Analyzing device inputs. Done. Running combination tests...

The TV flickered through various channels and functions for 10 seconds.

Done. Ejecting device

She felt nauseated as the ring made its way up. She threw it onto her hands and quickly wiped it with her clothes and blanket. Am I a CD drive? She retorted. Although it was her fault, the system had told her to keep it inside her mouth, not swallowing it. But in her excitement, she had misread the text.

Zizz, the other three TVs lit up at her wave, inside her vision were the list of available gestures. She changed each one into a camera channel, except for the last one, which showed the overall mini map of the defense forces, displaying each unit as an icon.

Bob raised an eyebrow as he walked in. His mouth curled into a smirk. “You’ll make a great engineer one day”.

She pouted a little. But I already am. She thought, intentionally dismissing the fact that it was the system that helped her. “Are there any chairs around here? You should take a sit, I don’t want to see you getting tired because of me”.

He nodded and walked next to her bed. A glowing box rose when he tapped his shoes on the floor. Dynamic chairs, cool. “According to our reports, the battle will start anytime now”. He made eye contact. “Just tell me at anytime you feel unease, I’ll change or turn off the TV”.

Alarms blared for a few seconds. The blue glow of the room turned into a soft yellow.

“Yellow means we are under attack, but you should only worry when it turns to orange, starts evacuating at red. It had only turned orange once in my life time. And that was when a new hire forgot to close the door, letting a badly injured wolf inside. It was taken care of shortly when the inner door locked and the security system filled the entrance with fire extinguishing foam”. He laughed.

“No humans are in the front line right?”. She wanted to confirm.

“No humans are allowed in the defense force, but accidents do happen here and there. Just don’t go outside, these things do not recognize humans. We have to do this because sometimes the other side would use humanoid units.”

She studied the machines with interest. A majority of them were various types of androids, from skeleton like builds to large, thickly armored ones carrying large metal shields. The smaller ones were well camouflaged within trees and bushes while the larger stood in the open, shields readied. All of them were using melee weapons.

“Why are they using swords and spears, why not guns?” She inquired. She doubted they were doing that for fun.

“All forcefields, even conventional ones can deflect some of the fastest and heaviest of bullets. The reason why these close combat weapons can penetrate is because they also generate an anti-field at the edge of their blades. It would be horrifically expensive if we have to implement this into each bullet. Mind you, the most elite of forces do, but I doubt we would need such cutting edge, pun not intended, technology for disposable units. And while you may not see it, they all have mechanisms to shoot projectiles. I will ask Tom to get you a tutor so you can satisfy your hunger. For most strategic questions, I may be able to answer, but I’m rather clueless on how most of the technology does it”. He shrugged.

Stationary structures composed the rests of the defense force, from small automatic mounted guns to large bunkers.

Boom! The ground exploded.

Sorry for the cliffhanger there *gets stabbed*

I'm still trying to learn how to write battles >.