Only Human
by Wesley Gray
Chapter Two - Interview
Ian took the shuttle to East Seattle, the usual collection of business types and hackers were busy in their virtual cubicles getting a head start on work as the shuttle flew quietly through the city. The morning sun was enveloping Mt. Rainier in a golden yellow glow. This part of the route had an unobstructed view for a couple of minutes. He zoomed into the snowy peak with his ocular implants and could see a couple of bald eagles circling near the snow line. He wondered what it must be like to live so carefree. His very next thought challenged that assumption, as he thought of how they must struggle to survive in nature. Just like me. He thought.
His thoughts turned to the interview. I wonder what Carrera has in mind? Ian pondered. Lt. Col. Carrera was now a full Colonel, having earned his rank the hard way, tempered like steel in the crucible of combat. Ian hoped this was finally the break he needed to pull things back together for him and Tara. Deep down, he knew his drinking had gotten way out of hand. He was sinking ever deeper into despair over his financial situation. Ian blamed his drinking on that alone. Tara had once told him it was deeper than that. Ian knew he wasn’t the same after the war. He was angry inside and that anger could burst out like a pouncing tiger at the most unexpected times. Try as he did, he could not stop the outbursts. It bothered him, he always had control of his emotions before, this was like some unwelcome guest that just won’t leave.
The shuttle stopped across from Virtus where he would meet Carrera for the interview. He was dressed for the occasion and had bought his first suit in years, on his already extended credit, cringing as he racked up even more debt. Having been unemployed for so long, the suit felt quite uncomfortable and alien to him. He hoped all this wasn’t in vain as he climbed the over-sized marble steps up to the dark glass doors. The doors gave way to a stunning, albeit minimalist, foyer. A guard unceremoniously ran a scanner over Ian, then directed him to the elevators across the room. “Room 2701” He said. Once in the elevator, it began a rapid ascent. The directions to the room came up on his watch, yet were hardly needed as it seemed room 2701 took up the entire 27th floor.
A receptionist led him to a conference room where Col. Carrera warmly greeted Ian. “Ian! It’s been far too long my friend. How the hell are you?” Carrera asked. “Doing fine sir, how ‘bout you?” Ian responded. Carrera just stood there smiling warmly at Ian, it was obvious he considered him a respected friend. “Let me introduce you to our interviewers.” Carrera said. “This is Major Myers, she is an expert in human enhancement. She’ll be filling you in on all the latest technology that DARPA is making available to us these days.” Carrera said. Ian had to keep a poker face when DARPA was mentioned. He knew how Tara felt about any further enhancements. Hmmm, hopefully I can dodge that bullet.
“And this is Lt. Col Sievers , he'll be training you with the Squadron, should you accept the job that is.” Carrera said. A nervous chuckle went around the room, and broke any remaining ice. Ian wanted to blurt out “I accept.”, but he knew better. It seemed too good to be true, and he was looking for the catch. “Maj. Myers will fill you in on the technical side of things now.” Carrera said. The tall brunette got up from her seat, straightened out her uniform and stood next to the white-board. The room grew dimmer as the first images came up on the white-board. A 3-D cutaway image of the human anatomy came up and Myers pointed to the heart, zooming in on the text that described genetic modification to the muscles giving abilities such as running at a full out sprint for an hour without discernible fatigue. A short animation popped up and showed how nano particles will stop bullet wounds from bleeding. The soldier can keep fighting as long as a critical organ is not damaged.
The interesting part was the brain “enhancements” including a fix for those pesky human emotions like fear or mercy. At this point in the presentation, Sievers spoke up. “You’ll have the option for any or all of these upgrades, should you feel the need for them.” He said. Something in the way Sievers ended the sentence gave Ian a chill. “I think you’ll find Ian is a very capable soldier and will have no trouble with training” Carrera said. Sievers made no comment and retained his poker face, but Ian could tell he was not happy with Carrera. There was a brief awkward silence, broken by Carreras phone. “Excuse me for one moment, I have to take this call, continue with the presentation Major.” He said as he stepped out of the room.
It was a long 10 minutes before Carrera returned. The major just was wrapping up her presentation and sat back down table. Cabrera remained standing at the front of the room, his face looked stern and flush. “There’s been a development. I hate to do this to you, Ian, but I need a decision from you immediately.” He said. “Sievers, the Major and I need to leave for Washington. Brief Ian on project Raven.” He said. Sievers looked shocked for a moment, but recovered quickly. “Yes sir. Col.” He said. What the hell is going on here? Ian wondered. Sievers opened a binder marked “top-secret”, flipping through a couple pages, stopped, looked up at Ian then began reading about an incident in Washington state. It seemed that Team X no longer had the advantage of being the only military unit with advanced trans-human technology. A team of four super soldiers were able to get through tight security at a secret underground base in eastern Washington. They made off with a piece of tech that only a few people had the security clearance to even know it even existed.
“They disabled most of the security cameras, here is what little video we do have.” Sievers said. The room dimmed, and the footage appeared on the wall. Four armed figures in sleek armor ran through the base with perfect coordinated moves. At one point, they halted and seemed to communicate silently, splitting up in four directions to search the area, then coming back in tight formation with machine like precision. One had the case with the tech, the rest surrounded him and they all quickly exited the camera frame as if they had merged into one. “Who are they?” Ian asked. “We don’t yet know.” Sievers said. “Maybe Chinese or Russian? Intelligence is working on it. In the meantime our squadron is tasked with recovering that case ASAP from whoever the hell these assholes are.”
Sievers leaned ominously toward Ian from across the table. “Just so you know, I’m fully aware of your wife’s involvement in the Human First Movement. That’s not going to be a problem as it?. I mean, this squad is going post human ASAP. Are you ready for that?” Sievers asked. Ian was struggling to keep his anger from showing, and distract himself by taking a sip of coffee before answering. “I can keep up.” Ian said. Sievers looked over Ian’s bio and read out loud a couple of his enhancements. “Gen 1 ocular implant. You know Gen 2 adds video communication between team members and command. Gives us a huge advantage in the field. We’re scheduled to upgrade to Gen 3 which will give us audio and visual telepathic communication.” Sievers said. Sievers looked up from the bio and waited for Ian’s reaction. Ian was at a loss for words. A long awkward pause followed, then finally Sievers spoke: “You know what I’m asking, right? The Colonel wants you on the team, but I have the final say. The bottom line is, unless you agree to some major upgrades, there is no way in hell you are joining us.” Ian felt like he was just hit in the gut by a truck. “I, I can’t.” he said sheepishly.
“Sorry to hear that Ian. The Colonel will be disappointed to hear that.” Sievers said. Ian thought he detected a slight grin on sievers face. You don’t look very disappointed a-hole. Ian’s disdain for Sievers turned to depression as the elevator descended back to the foyer. Maybe I should’ve agreed to some of the upgrades. I can’t believe this. What am I going to say to Tara? Ian caught the shuttle for home as evening descended.
A short story version of book one and two will be posted to this blog. If you like it please sign up for my book updates and receive extended versions of Only Human Book One, Aftermath and Only Human Book One, Virtus absolutely free via this link Only Human
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Wesley Gray, Author