Tossing and turning in bed, barely got a wink of sleep. Finally, rolling out of the bed, the lights automatically adjusting from pitch black to slight dim, thanks to Zero. Splash some cold water over my face from the sink in the bathroom. Finally ready to meet corporal Hale. The door to the hall slides open, tucking itself into its hidden pocket within the wall. Overwhelming noise hits me. It's so loud to the point I thought my eardrums would pop. Slapping my hands over my ears to and block out as much as I could. Inside my mind, I hear "Calibrating... adjusting," Zero responded within seconds. My noise went back to a normal levels, the sounds all disappearing into the white noise of the background. Now just a plain, quiet hall. "I didn't know you could do that." mentally said to Zero. "I just tapped into the simple communication device you have implanted within your MCI. Same with your ocular contacts to use your visual data. Either one, I can adjust for you." Zero said. Talking to Zero while I take an elevator down to the mess hall. "I didn't know that. Can you tap into any other implant?" I ask. "Most of them, mainly to assist in your everyday life and during combat situations," Zero states, "I'm an advanced AI. After all, I can do more than your previous standard AI could do," Zero said. Not thinking much about it before, I pushed for further information, "Advanced AI, are you sentient than?" I ask. After a slight moment of waiting, the doors open and Zero responds with, "Not sentient in the way you think, the Arbiters are the only true sentient artificial species and they enforce that, the furthest we AI are allowed to go is similar to old 20th century Earth equivalent, further on that I could pass a Turing test but I am not sentient in the true sense of the word, as I don't display true emotions just artificial ones made through a series of ones and zeros that I am pre-programmed to respond or relate too in many manners of situations." Wanting to keep asking questions, but Corporal Hale was waiting for me as I walked into the mess hall. A tray of food in both of his hands, assuming ones for me and other for himself. "Here you go civ" Corp. Hale says. "My name is Leo, Corporal." Stating firmly to the corporal. The corporal looked at me with his blue glowing cybernetic eyes. "Okay, Leo, eat up, we have training right after," he said, overemphasizing my name, thrusting the tray of food towards me. Grabbing the tray, "Training?" I say, giving the corporal a questioning look. Hale taking a seat at the nearest spot. Only a few people were sitting at the other tables, drinking coffee or having a meal before their shifts or in some cases after their shift. "Yeah, I have only 3 days to get you in half-ass shape," he states, I was about to ask why when he seemed to read my mind "Sarges orders, doesn't want a civilian running into gunfire at the first sign of trouble, not that there will be, been on this mission over a dozen times and they've all been quiet." a look of sadness washed over his face, quickly recovering. "Clarice didn't die on a mission though. She got injured on the way back home and there was nothing we could do for her even with the auto-doc.," he said. Eating my breakfast and listening to the corporal. "I'm sorry. May I ask how she got hurt?" I asked. "She fell in her room, hitting her head on the corner of the desk. No one found her until morning and by then it was already too late, her AI somehow was shutdown to request for help. Standard protocol says to remove any military implants or tech and return the body to the family. The AI is normally wiped or re-purposed to continue serving in the military. This mission is top priority, that is why you're here, the top brass won't even let us off for a week to find a replacement for Clarice." with annoyance in his voice, slamming his hand on the table a little too hard a small indent left where his augment dented the steel table. "Sorry... finish eating and let's go train." Quickly finishing up our breakfast. Going down some nearby stairs, we went past the recreation area and into the gym. It held a bunch of different exerciser equipment and even private rooms on one side. "Okay, Leo, let's start with some basics," Hale said. "Let's start with some stretches first, then into a routine. Combat training will be tomorrow. That is, after you do this routine in the morning, so remember it and get it memorized quickly." Hale finished. Hours later I crawled out of the gym, all I could remember was my name which was only because Hale repeated it so many times, "keep up Leo, move faster Leo, 5 more Leo, Push-ups now Leo" Falling into bed, my muscles finally unwinding from being overworked. Remembering all my training from running cross-country and track back in high school. This training put that to shame. This isn't what I signed up for. I thought this would be a joy ride. Come in, pull some data, deliver said data, get a pay-check, and be set up at my job for the next year at least. Skipping lunch to relax in my room. During training, Zero slowly began correcting me on my routine, mainly optimizing my breathing and form. Showing me optimum movements and other minor changes that I could make during training. Towards the end, I was catching on, but still slow compared to Corporal Hale and the others. At the end of the training, Hale congratulated me on not dying and said that I should eat and try and finish syncing with my AI, was about to tell him that I already did, but pushed it off. Too tired to even respond. "Zero, wake me for dinner and shut off the lights please," The lights gradually went out, not too long after I tried to get a nap but couldn't get much of one in before Zero chimed in. "Leo, it's time. I have prepared a meal for you in the mess hall." That line made me stop in my tracks. "You didn't do anything weird now, did you?" I asked, questioning the AI. Zero chuckled, "Nothing inappropriate, just a little humor, but I did make a plate for you, its waiting in a food cubby marked ,"C1". Many of the other servicemen request meals made in advance. So I will begin taking over your diet to increase your future training regiment.". Dinner was pretty tame, Val wasn't in attendance. I ate what looked like some sort of spaghetti and meatballs. It tasted good. After dinner, the squad and I watched some movies in the entertainment room before retiring to our rooms. The morning seemed to come faster than I wanted. Grabbing a cold, caffeinated coffee and granola bar of some sort from the cubby Zero designated for me. Walking into the gym at exactly 0600, Corporal Hale and Private Burns each greeted me, both already covered in sweat from working out. "Should I have arrived earlier, no one said anything," I said. "No, it's fine Leo. We didn't expect you to get up at the butt crack of dawn. Burns and I both do our normal run at around 5." Haled stated, looking over at Burns toweling off. "Burns will run you through a bunch of scenarios after your warm-up, so hop to it, we are going to grab some grub, be right back." with that they both walked out the door. No one else was in the gym, so doing some quick stretches for a few minutes, After, I set up a floor run similar to a treadmill setting it for a standard run and began. Completing it faster than yesterday but slower than my overall peak in high school. Which was3 miles in 32 minutes. Taking a few minutes to catch my breath before working in some core exercises and right after strength training, working the whole routine in a little under an hour. Finishing up my last exercise, Private Burns and Hale walked through the door. "Perfect timing, it seems. Tomorrow I expect you to be done by the time we come back, though." Hale laughs. Burns looks at me and then at Hale. "Didn't it take like twice as long yesterday to do the same workout?" Burns asked Hale, his gray eyes questioning Hale, taking a glance at me. Leaving the gym, going next door, we walked into the briefing rooms, which in itself was a small hallway breaking off into multiple smaller rooms. Each having a squad's name on its door. "Valkyrie squad" was labeled on the door we went through. The room was set up with 3 pods on each side of the room, A podium at the head, with seating for the whole squad plus some in the middle around a U-shaped table with a projection floating above it with the squad's emblem spinning above it. Showing a silver helmet with wings coming off of it. "Yep, but I expect him to hold his own. He ran cross-country in school, so he already has that down just has to just knock the rust off," Hale states, looking at me. "Okay, now we'll get into a few scenarios and get you geared up after. This will be our daily routine until we arrive at the moons." Looking around at the pods, the pods can be used for various things like virtual schooling, music events, and hanging out with friends over video games. In the military, they're mainly used for training in combat or how to operate frames. I used a pod often in college for school and gaming. "Ever been in a full immersion before?" Burns asks. Walking alongside Private Burns "Yeah, in college, I also did some deep immersion gaming as well," I said. "Good, it can be intense sometimes, especially some of the army combat scenarios. I hate the ones with the big bugs, always hated bugs." shaking his head "Yuck," Burns said, still shaking. "Okay, stop your yapping, strap-in and I'll pull you guys into my scenario," Hale said. We each took a simulation pod. The pod looks like a vertical metal coffin that is slightly tipped back. Similar to the pods that are used in prolonged hyper-sleep. They work with putting the user into a sleep-like state and the interface will allow the user to be pulled into simulations as an avatar. Basic simulations can be as simple as a blank room and complex simulations can span whole cities. A person's perception can be altered slightly from things like pain to time dilation, originally used to help soldiers with PTSD and other similar medical cases, later the video game industry brought it into a whole new level. Soon becoming something of a cultural phenomenon back on Earth before the mass evacuation. Supposedly having almost its own culture in itself, spanning from online schooling and colleges to night clubs and more adult entertainment. I didn't get much into virtual besides some online gaming, but I had many friends who did. Laying in the pod, the door automatically shutting with a faint hiss, pressurizing the door when it closed, each pod being capable of life support just in case of loss of atmosphere in the ship. Knowing that the pod will put me in an unconscious state shortly. I center my mind and taking a slow deep breath. By the time I exhaled, I was already out and linked to the pod. My vision coming back into my avatar, which resembled my current likeness, was default. Some people have been known to alter theirs and change anything from being humans with exaggerated features to become animals to mythical creatures, or even cartoon characters. Normally you can pull up an avatar screen, but it was locked to default by the controller. The others slowly fade into view in front of me. Noticing the room was completely white and plain, the floor and ceiling comprised of metal hexagons extending into infinity, it reminded me of the scene in the matrix before the weapons come sliding into view. Hale walked up to me, looking just like he did on the outside, with his polished black mag-boots, urban camo pants, and a gray t-shirt with UGFM in bold black font centered on his chest. "So Leo, you have a choice to make." holding out his palms closed towards me. Looking at Hale, then to his fists. Opening up both of his hands, revealing nothing. "Just fracken with you, Leo," Hale said, dropping his stiff posture. "Now, we are going to run you through some drills in case of different emergencies that could happen on the ship, especially since you are a civilian. Then, after, we will do some weapons training and firearm protocols. Your AI should be able to run you through most situations without training, but it's better to know about some things beforehand," Hale explains. After Hale's explanation the white room shifted over to an exact replica of the ship, the replica even had the slight smell of ozone from the sterilizing agent with the slightest hint of sweat that tends to linger in the air. Looking around the room with Hale and Burns still looking at me like they did seconds ago in the meeting room, "So, what's the emergency?" Hale looked to Burns and they both shrugged. "It's random it's how we learned this as well, don't worry something will happen shortly and will keep repeating until the timer run....", A blaring alarm sounded for about 30 seconds straight. "There is an air breach in another section of the ship," Hale says.."It will roll through here soon enough,"..bringing me over to a panel on the wall near the door. "Each door will seal and lock during an air breach in the section it's detected in. If the breach continues there are environmental suits in these lockers throughout the ship, all of these panels are near the door, if you cannot get to them in time, tell your AI to seal the room, and hopefully, the room won't be breached." Hale said. Looking at Burns who was currently grabbing what I guessed was the environmental suit. Which was stored in small cubes. Dozens of them were in the locker that was built right into the wall to the right of the doorway. He opened the box and pulled out an over-sized orange jumpsuit. Being able to put it on fast and pulling the zipper up to his collar, it sealed around the neck collar and the suit pulled tight to his body. Pulling the attached hood over his face and pulling the zipper on the hood to the collar it locked to the collar, it sealed over his face and went ridged away from his features and turned completely transparent within seconds. Burns just smiled. The sounds of screeching metal were slowly getting closer and the alarm now never stopped. Burns looked towards me "Your turn rookie, get suited up before you get sucked out the ship, I'll tell you something important, even if the simulation isn't real, its still not fun to get hurt or die in here." he said. Grabbing the blue cube from the pile, pulling out the orange suit that is neatly folded into a small package, pulling it over my workout clothes that were in the dresser upstairs, almost the same as clothes as Burns and Hale had on. Putting the suit over my shoes than the rest over my shoulders, pulling the zipper up the collar it locks around my neck a little snug and the excess slack in the suit pulled inward becoming snug. Reaching back, grabbing the hood, which was slightly split, pulling it over my face, pulling the zipper down my face until it touched the collar, they snapped together like two magnets. Quickly losing my vision for only a blink of an eye, within that blink the helmet went ridged. My vision returned, only obscured from the hexagonal ridges of the interior of the helmet. Looking towards Hale and Burns both suited up and sitting around the table within the meeting room. Walking over, realizing the ship was shaking even more now. I take a seat across from Burns and Hale, "well that was eas...." I was cut off when a loud screeching filled the room. A loud hissing started as the air was being pulled through the now huge gashes in the wall, within seconds the gash widened, now the whole wall next to me looked liked it got ripped off. Than all I felt was my body being pulled out into space through the hole in the wall. Looking over, both Burns and Hale were still sitting in the briefing room, no less waving at me as I float off into space. Floating there in a panic trying to reach the ship, as it kept moving past me. You have died, scenario failed New scenario in 3...2...1... The meeting room came back as it was before, Hale and Burns both looking at me. They both broke into a fit of laughter... "Good one rook got your suit on and everything too, but forgot to put on your mag-boots on this morning didn't you, mandatory in space, might get yourself sucked out a big ass hole," Burns says, his face a little red from laughing so hard. Taking deep breaths, thinking that experience was not pleasant at all. Almost forgot it was a simulation for a second there. Looking at the duo "Har, Har, can you put some mag boots on my avatar please."I asked Hale, who was still doubled over, busting a gut. "Yea, yeah, sure, ah that was a good one too start with, you even looked so confident when you got your suit on and sat down." "Did you know that would happen?" I asked. "That you would be sucked out the hole?" asked Hale. Squinting at the man "Yeah, getting sucked out the fracken hole," "Yeah, if you're not prepared with your mag boots on then most likely you'll be pulled out by the vacuum." The lessons continued for the next few hours until about 1 or 1300 hours military, we took a break for lunch. I died two more times by a variety of different incidents but ended up clearing all of them after they came back up again in the rotation. Hale and Burns mainly there to point out the not so obvious things I missed. I didn't mind but some stuff hurt and I didn't expect the pain settings to be set to normal. Hale said it was going to always be set to a normal pain threshold for added realism and motivation to do things right. Did you know that burning hot plasma floats in liquid spheres in zero-g and can melt through an environment hazard suit in less than a split second. That particular scenario you're not supposed to stop the plasma but run away and vent the room, it took me two times to realize that after I asked for help from Zero. After I passed that one, I finally aced all the emergency scenarios. Hale said we would do the military-oriented ones after lunch. I was a little excited by that since I loved playing shooter games. Mainly playing "Caliber One" which is the most played and popular shooter in VR. I was pretty high ranked in that, during the time between high school and college, made most of my creds playing it actually during college. A cubby was highlighted on my UI as we walked into the cafeteria. Opening it, it appeared to only some sort of drink. Frowning at it. "Zero, what is this?" I ask. "It is a smoothie, it has all the vitamins and minerals you need, it's strawberry flavored." Shrugging my shoulder, grabbing the cold drink, I sat down with the guys, who only raised their eyebrows at my smoothie. I sucked on the straw in the pouch. It was sweet but not overly sweet. Instantly, I felt refreshed and it tasted pretty good. "I never see you order food but always have it ready, do you plan your meals out in advance?" Burns asks. Shaking my head "No, Zero my AI does." "Zero?" Hale asks. "Yeah, I didn't really like keeping Hannibal roaming around in there" Tapping the side of my head "so I deactivated his personality traits, and renamed him Zero, though he still does say odd things from time to time," I said, slowly sipping away at the smoothie. Hale had a strange look on his face "That is kinda strange, you're already fully integrated?" he asked. "Yeah, that night when I woke up," I said, "Doesn't everyone's integrate fast?" I asked. Both Hale and Burns stopped eating and stared at me. "No, it normally takes at least a few days. Most have been because of your civilian AI integrating with the military one. We both didn't have one growing up, our families were too poor to afford even basic ones, we both lived on citizen stipends until we joined up, even got these babies," Hale clinching and un-clinching his hands. "Lost them and my eyes during my first tour," said Hale. "Sorry" I couldn't help but say. "Don't be, we were and haven't ever been in any real fight or war. my ship was attacked by some pirate, unless you're a fracken pirate don't be sorry. I could never have had my limbs regrown or my eyes, no less upgraded to the top of the line augments unless I sold my soul to the devil or the Arbiters, haha." he laughed for a second, "I owe the marines for giving me these, and I will repay them with my best until they force me to retire or I die in my duties." every word he said with beyond serious and it made me respect him more for it. A smile slid back on his face "You should tell the Sarge about your AI acclimation though, its probably a good thing but it wasn't wiped beforehand." shrugging his shoulders "Or not, who am I to say, ready to get back at it Leo?' getting up from the benches. "Give me a second, I'm going to run to my room and switch footwear," I said looking at my old school converse. Nodding his head, "You learn fast, we'll be in the gym, Also, that meeting room is our squad's personal one. So if you want to use it for personal use just log in with your military ID and you should be golden, see you in a bit." They dropped their trays off and I went towards the elevator, dropping my empty smoothie pouch in the recycling on my way out. Quickly swapping for mag-boots, I head back down to the gym. mentally running through the different scenarios I did on the way. Noticing all the panels labeled in the corridors now standing out, the different safety features within the ship, noticing I wasn't using the navigation on the ship anymore since I ran the whole ship from bow to stern over half a dozen times in simulation earlier today. Arriving at the gym. Seeing some navy crewman and marines working out respectively. Burns and Hale are in the practice circle, fighting each other, it doesn't look like any punches or kick but only throws or holds. Burns grabbed Hale by the arm after he failed to grab Burns's outstretched leg for what looked to be a feint leg sweep. Hale braced for a throw that never came, Burns flipped vertically spinning his hips up over Hale's arm with the top of his body spinning vertically. Hale tries to put his other arm up to block Burns's legs coming down but its already too late. His legs have already locked around Hale's neck pulling his foot towards his knee closing the lock. Locking his joint, Hale tries the only thing he can, he grabs Burns's shirt and goes to slam him down against the mat. Burns already knows its coming but clinches his legs further. Before Hale could put any force into the slam, he loses consciousness and begins to fall. Burns releases his hold and lands bracing Hale from falling hard onto the mat. Hale started coughing, taking a slow breath "Frack, I hate it when you do chokeholds, you agile bastard, you do know if this was all out I would have broke you." Hale wheezed. "Maybe, maybe not," Burns says, Burns looks at Hale and gestures a thumb at me, "Leo's back, so let's get him caught up, and then we can go all out after and see who wins then." Burns says getting up and offering a hand to the still laying form of Hale on the mat.