Scout#005

  Night was about to start, which meant it was time for Scout#005 to get to work cataloging the base personnel and marking candidates. It was fortunate for Scout#005 that the facility it was currently in did not have security cameras. Though it did have an occasional guard posted, those were mostly at the entrances. When it first had its power storage resupplied, it spent many nights sneaking around the base and getting its layout. The original logic chains that had spawned the idea of it being in a black ops site were soon proven wrong once it had explored the entirety of the base and found that the people it once knew had digressed into a shell of their former selves.

  The technology that did work was running on safety mode or had licensing issues that kept them from being used to their full capacity. Many of them failing simply because they required an active global network connection before allowing all their features to be unlocked. Scout#005 didn’t care that the technology didn’t work, but its cybersecurity module was upset that these seemingly little issues kept it from hopping from device to device and taking over the local electronics.

  At the time of its creation, the cybersecurity module would have already had backdoors installed in most of the surrounding devices and would be monitoring the local network for threats, but here all it could do was slowly break into devices and try to disable their licensing requirement, which for some reason was even more locked down than administrative mode. Plus, with the lack of a local network, Scout#005 was forced to use the power intensive qConnect module it had been installed with.

  qConnect modules were rare, even by Scout#005’s standards. Most connection modules only used standard antennas and could connect to all local networks and listen to some radio signals over a few hundred miles. The qConnect module contained a very expensive quantum communicator that let it connect to company networking centers within the local solar system. Its own module had taken damage over the course of its hibernation and could only be used once a month, and it had yet to receive any orders through it since it had been reawakened.

  Scout#005 wasn’t even sure it was working, diagnostics had come back with a warning, but its analytics module had proposed that maybe the unit was malfunctioning anyway since the odds of not receiving a signal from anywhere in the entire solar system was almost incalculable. There were supposed to be thousands of networking centers scattered around their local system and the idea of them all being disabled was not computing with the little analytics module. Scout#005 thought the analytics module could be right, but it didn’t matter since it had hard coded programming that required it to try and receive new orders after a certain period, and that period had been crossed hundreds of years ago.

  Before starting its work, Scout#005 reviewed its updated orders.

  #Last Call Protocol Enacted: Bring candidates to training facility.

  The orders hadn’t changed since it last looked and that was ok. Scout#005 slowly powered up its communication module and went through the steps of trying to connect to the different networks, even though it knew there was nothing new to find. Once all the checks had been completed, it shut off the main communication module and turned on its qConnect module. Its arrays finally charged after weeks of trickling power to them. Scout#005 was about to mark the communication attempt as failed when it received a confirmation signal. Soon new orders started to download, albeit very slowly, which meant that the other side of the connection was at the edge of its arrays' ability to connect. After a few minutes, its new orders had downloaded, and Scout#005 opened them to see if its objectives had changed.

  #Original Order:

  - #Last Call Protocol Enacted: Bring candidates to training facility. - Still Active

  #Order Amendments:

  # - Deadman’s option activated due to all known board members being deceased.

  # - Candidates can now include species with uplifting compatible genetics.

  # - All company resources should be used to ensure the survival of the Areonian people.

  # - Active Training facilities in range: (1)

  # - Respond with list of potential candidates.

  If Scout#005 had emotions, it would have been crying for joy at the idea that something from its civilization had survived, but instead – in a cold and calculated manner – it did nothing extra as it sent its list of candidates and their dossiers up the chain.

  # - Candidate info received. Training facility will be ready for candidates in six months.

  Candidate_Id 583429I is a priority candidate. Ensure their arrival. End of orders.

  Scout#005 shut down its qConnect module and modified its nights plans. It had a lot of work to do to prepare its candidates for transfer. With the focus that only a machine can achieve, it got to work.

  ***

  It was hours before Cale needed to be awake, yet he was lying in bed with his eyes wide open. It was only a few months until his fifth birthday and his parents had decided that it was time for him to start learning to use his scripts. His mother had been true to her word and had helped him get a handful of scripts over the last few years. Currently he had five working scripts and two inactive scripts. He wasn’t sure what caused the scripts to not work – there wasn’t an error, they just didn’t show up in his script list. It didn’t bother him too much once he found out that the average person usually only had one script. Having five working scripts lessened the sting of having two unusable ones.

  Over the last few years, he found out his parents were above average in the script count. Each of his parents had three scripts, and the most they had ever heard of was five scripts. They told him that out of the entire population, less than 15% had three scripts or more. The main reason for the limit on scripts was that there were only so many to go around and you couldn’t create them.

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  There were two ways to get scripts, the first way someone earned a script was by turning 18. Though you never got to pick this script, it was typically something you had a good affinity for. The second way was to have someone give them to you. Once a script was transferred, it could no longer be used by the last person. This meant that a lot of scripts were passed down through family lines since grandparents would frequently give their scripts to either their kids or grandkids before their passing. Which made Cale’s situation even more unique as he didn’t need to have someone give him their script but could instead download them from the crystals retrieved from the ruins of the ancients. Over the years he had thought that someone might discover what he and his mother were doing, but it never happened and as long as he behaved, nobody suspected him.

  After another hour of lying there, he couldn’t take it anymore and he got himself dressed and walked into the kitchen. He was expecting to find himself to be alone, but to his surprise his father was already at the table eating.

  “Dad, what are you doing up?”

  “Probably the same reason as you. I couldn’t sleep,” he said with a gleam in his eye.

  “I couldn’t sleep because I’m so excited to figure out what my scripts do!” Cale exclaimed, “But why can’t you sleep?”

  “The same reason, of course!” His father said as he slurped down a bowl of flakes and berries. “I have been waiting for this day for years! If it wasn’t for your mother, I would have taken you out into the wilds with me over a year ago!”

  Cale smiled widely at his father's words. It was fun seeing him as excited as he was. Cale hadn’t spent a lot of alone time with his dad since coming to the base. He was looking forward to some one-on-one time, and he was really looking forward to spending some time outside. Soon they had both eaten and were just looking at each other awkwardly. His father finally broke the silence.

  “Xavier. Do you think anyone would care if we left now?”

  “Now… as in over an hour before anyone else gets up?”

  “Uh... yes?”

  “I don’t think they will mind... If we stay here talking too long, we might wake them up. It is probably better for them if we leave now.”

  “Agreed. Let's get our day started!” His dad whisper-shouted.

  With smiles on both of their faces, the Del’Orion boys headed out into the wilds.

  ***

  The smile on Cale’s face had yet to leave by the time they walked through the outer gate. Their trip through the base had been uneventful, as the morning was still very young. Most people were still in bed and the only people they saw walking around were the base guards. The mountain next to the base was barely starting to glow as the light had just started to peak over the horizon. When they had gotten to the gate, his father just flashed a badge at the guard, and they were let through without question. The guard did raise their eyebrows when they saw Cale standing beside his father with a pack on his back that barely fit on his body, but that was it.

  His smile got even wider once he heard the gates behind them close. He was finally outside the base! He felt like he should have been freaking out at not being inside the protection of the walls and guards, but instead he felt free, almost liberated. Even though he had spent years underground, he had spent far longer on the surface, and it called to him. They walked for over an hour through the wild forest before they came across an old campsite that looked to have been abandoned for a while due to the grass and tree growth around it.

  “We will test your scripts here.” His father said as he set his pack down. “We are far enough from base to keep the prying eyes away and this area is pretty safe. Olter and I have been patrolling this area for over a year making sure that nothing too big comes toward our home. This is a site we use when we can’t make it back to base before dark. We don’t use it often, but it will be a good spot for us to work today.”

  Cale set his bag down and took a look around. The little site was next to a big rock that towered over them, causing a natural overhang. There was a fire pit off to the side and some makeshift walls to protect a sleeping area. It wasn’t fancy, but Cale didn’t mind, he was here to experiment! The excitement of what he was about to do hit him with a wave of adrenaline, and he opened up his interface to try and decide which one he wanted to use first.

  “Xavier, stop. I know that look. DO NOT USE a script right now,” his father warned him.

  Cale closed his interface and looked over at his father sheepishly, who was staring at him with those knowing, piercing green eyes.

  “Before you just start using your scripts willy nilly. I must teach you the basics. Script use requires focus, intent, and will. A script can be a blade just as easily as it can be a hammer. A tool with multiple uses. Do you understand?”

  “Are you saying that my wind script can do more than just create a wind blade?”

  His father nodded at him before continuing. “Correct. A great example is my Force script. It has multiple uses, but they can be categorized into two functions. Adding force to my action, or it can create, or in some cases, stop other forces at my will.”

  Cale wasn’t sure he understood how that one worked, and a puzzled look flashed across his face.

  “Here, I will show you an example,” his father said winking at him before directing him to stand over to the side.

  Cale moved aside as his father continued his lecture. “For example, I can take the force of my own movements and create an opposing force, allowing me to travel through the air or to change my direction without touching something solid.”

  Cale must have made a confused look again, because after a second his father's grin got even wider.

  “Here. I’ll show you. Then you will understand.”

  Cale watched as his dad started to run toward the tree line that surrounded the temporary camp. After a few steps his dad jumped in the air, only instead of falling, his feet landed on something invisible, and he propelled himself even higher. Cale watched in astonishment as his dad ran in the air around the camp. Cale’s wonder filled face made his dad smile wide and he started to do tricks to show off to his son. First Phil did a front flip while running through the air, the landing was shaky, but it made them both laugh.

  Then he did a version of the worm that made him lose a little control of his script and caused him to crash into some tree branches on the edge of the camp. Cale rolled on the ground with laughter as his dad stood on one of the branches with leaves in his hair. Soon his dad floated down to the ground and landed gracefully. One could tell that he had spent plenty of time honing his abilities.

  When Cale finally finished giggling, his father continued. “That is one example of how to use my force script and it's what I used to save you from falling.” The reminder of that night caused the mood to become more somber.

  “Now this script isn’t just good for walking on air and doing party tricks. It has a more… forceful application as well.”

  Phil motioned for Cale to stand back by the rock again as he walked over to one of the trees on the opposite side of the camp. His father went up to a tree that was over a foot wide and appeared healthy. He walked around it as he looked over it and wacked it a few times with his hands before taking a fighting stance, his feet spread and his hands up in a boxing position. Cale only had to wait a few seconds before his dad made a ferocious kick accompanied by a loud yell.

  Cale watched as the supposedly solid tree before them EXPLODED! He gasped in awe as he watched the top half of the tree fly up and over the other trees, going somewhere off into the distance, its leaves making a loud shaking sound as it flew out of his view. A booming, crashing sound came a full five seconds later. His vision snapped back to where his father was, curious as to what in the world he just did. Phil was still next to the tree with one leg in the air, standing next to the stump of the tree that had just been there. Phil himself was spotless, while the entire area around him was covered in woodchips and bark. What he did may have caused a giant mess, but it was amazing!

  “What was that?!” Cale yelled out. His excitement overriding his ability to stay composed.

  “I used force to enhance my kick. It is a bit complicated since I have to wrap my leg in a force barrier and then enhance my movements with the same force script. Dual activations can be difficult, but, as you can see, when properly applied, the script can cause a lot of damage.”

  Cale nodded his head in agreement. What he had just witnessed was amazing. His father's ability with a single script showed the versatility he could achieve with practice and understanding. Cale couldn’t wait to get started.