The Ghosts

[DeletedUser]

Boss was thinking. What was it that Mouse said? Ask somebody about the next mission...Jaunt he thought. He stood up and went to his door. He opened it. Of course, as soon as he did, three guards were in the hallways with M-16's. All three were pointed at Boss.

"What do you think your doing A98-0606?" asked the main secuirty guard.

"I'm going to talk to my friend Jaunt. Now," he started to begin a new sentence. He lifted both his hands up. Both of his arms lit on fire and two orbs of white fire appeared in his hands.

"Now, you can screw before I send you guys to the med ward, or you can shoot at me and see how badly burnt you'll end up. I bet I could make you look like the Human Torch from that comic book. A man entirely on fire. That would be pretty fun to watch," he said with an evil smile.

The guards stood down and returned to their posts. Boss laughed and put his arms down. The flames disappeared as Boss walked towards Jaunt's door. He knocked loudly.

"Hey Jaunt. Can ya open the door for me?" he asked politely.

Boss was friends with Jaunt. They were neighbors after all. He cared about Mouse because she was one of the only prototypes that didn't scrutinize against him. But Jaunt...Jaunt was different. Like him. He was the psycho. The freak. He thought he had it rough. Then he met Jaunt. He pitied her. He felt a connection with her. He would openly defy orders or get in a fight to protect her.

In fact, he had. Last year in Mess, one of the new prototypes thought that it would be fun to pick fun at Jaunt. They were wrong. Boss took the punk by the throat and literally burned a hole through his chest and ripped out his heart. Boss was almost put down for that, but he didn't care. In the end, the handlers and the scientists said that if a prototype couldn't be friendly to his other prototypes, then he was a failure. Even though Boss was feared, he had earned their respect and everybody knows he would die for any of the other prototypes in a second.

"Hey Jaunt, ya there?" he asked.

 

[DeletedUser25825]

Jaunt stood and opened her door and looked down at Boss shaking her head. "Of course I'm in here Boss. Where else would I be?" She stood to the side and gestured him inside. She looked down the hallway at the guards and then shut her door after Boss entered. She sat on her bed. "You shouldn't mess with the guards all the time. I have no love for them either, but it frightens the others, and does not project you in a good way."


She rested her hands on her knobby looking knees and splayed her long, slender fingers out. "I know you have more control than you let on, and respect for the others than you display. You should try to be more of that person, than a big bully that people only respect through fear, rather than any true legitimate reason." She watched Boss with her pale blue eyes, and smiled gently.


"You know you weren't chosen for the past mission because of your temper don't you? It was a rescue mission, and you had every right to be there as any of the others, but your attitude is holding you back. The handlers can't risk you blowing up a hostage, and even though I'm certain you wouldn't, why should THEY take the risk? The handlers talk about you more than you know, and it's seldom in a positive light. We've known each other for", she paused as she ticked off counting on her fingertips before continuing, "eleven years now. You know I would never steer you wrong. If you want to go on missions, you're going to have to start behaving in a better manner towards everybody I think." She shrugged her bony shoulders at the end of her lecture and continued smiling, "It's your choice to make of course, and I have a feeling", she tapped the side of her left temple, "you're unlikely to listen to me." She laughed easily.

 

[DeletedUser13682]

An hour later, Lt. Colonel Wilkinson was at Willy's door, pleading for him to come out. "Come on, kiddo. You're acting like a little child." The Tchaikovsky favorite, the 1812 Overture, was paused, and Willy responded. "Technically, I'm only 10. I just developed faster." The 1812 Overture sounded again. Joanna shook her head, time for negotiations. Enter Lieutenant Kamarov and 1st Sergeant Moody. The leiutenant spoke first. "Son, you must give this up. The demands are impossible to meet! We cannot get you the artwork, it's not in our jurisdiction! You must be kept on the same diet you are now, or you will be poisoned. Now, there is a mission coming up soon, we need you to train, be fit, and ready for action." The music stopped again.

Willy walked up to the door, considered opening it, decided not to, and responded to the lieutenant. "Lieutenant Kamarov, I will compromise with you. I'll drop the request for the artwork, but I demand food for everybody! How many of us really like the nutrition bars and nutrition slop you give us? It tastes horrible, like mud. Who wants foods like steak, pizza, cheeseburgers? I'm sure we all do, and until we do, I will not eat." 1st Sergeant Moody stepped in at this time. "We can offer you MREs. They're real food, everybody likes them, and they're nutritious. Everybody wins here." The door was opened, and Willy appeared. "Fine. MREs for everybody." The door was shut immediately after that, the 1812 Overture going into its finale.

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

Trace looked up at Micky. His voice cracked from lack of recent use as he said, "Yeah, let me have a look at it." He closed his eyes and allowed Micky's computer to flood into his mind. He drifted through the data until he came to an improvisation of Micky's that completely destroyed the startup process. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes...Micky knew nothing about computers' inner workings, but that didn't stop him from messing around with them. Trace absentmindedly eliminated the faulty code, as well as anything else he felt might screw things up. This whole process took about 15 seconds. He opened his eyes and looked up at Micky. "I fixed it...and if you want to improve your computer, you can just ask me...I can do pretty much everything if you want me to." Upon finishing, he had a kind of bemused expression on his face...he never said that much all at once...still, it had felt good, and the merest hint of a smile tugged at his features. "Well, have a good time playing your game." he said softly.

 

[DeletedUser26409]

"Thanks about the offer but I prefer to do it my way. It's not about succeeding all the time you know, it's about doing stuff myself, I always liked that. But I guess I can bug you again once I mess up." Micky said as he used his Bio-Control to make him blush. He didn't feel like playing with the computer anymore although he had waited for Starcraft 2 all his life. He decided to stick around and squeeze some more talking out of Trace. Micky had always liked Trace for some reason.

"So how was the mission?"

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

Trace looked wil for a moment, then answered Micky. "It was...really enjoyable. It was a complete success, and I actually was able to use my ability for something worthwile..." he thought for a moment, then added, "I'm surprised you weren't chosen to come...bio-control would have been helpful...the men were armed, after all..." Trace trailed off, lost in thought for a bit. After a few minutes he seemed to come back to himself and saw Micky still standing there. For politeness sake, he asked, "Did procedures change to compensate for those of us who weren't there?"

 

[DeletedUser26409]

"No, they didn't. They never do. You know that." Micky answered. "Perhaps I could've been useful, but I'm mostly still a sniper. Or long range recon. Guess they thought I wasn't up to the task." Micky sighed. He wished he would have been there. He looked at Trace and said: "Please tell me more about it. And do you know if anything is coming which I could be a part of?"

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

Trace frowned for a moment, then said, "There really isn't that much more to tell...I eliminated their security systems and turned them against them...Mouse directed the rest of the group to the first lady, and they got her out...it was a smooth mission really, and far too short..." Trace looked down, thinking about the question Micky had asked. At length he said, "I remember them saying something about another possible mission coming up at debriefing...I wasn't really paying attention though...Mouse was the head of the operation, so she did pretty much all the talking..." Trace trailed off, trying to remember more, but nothing came. He shifted position on his chair slightly, then shrugged. "The outside world was...interesting...so many people, so much noise...it was very interesting." Trace looked as though he was about to say more, but then he dropped his gaze to the floor again.

 

[DeletedUser13682]

Bored, so very very bored. Time to talk to somebody, but whom? Think, think, think... That's it! He would talk to Jaunt, the prescient, or as everybody else liked to say, precognant girl. They hadn't talked in a while, a long while. How long? If the chronograph in his room was set right, then it had been a month. But maybe it had been longer or shorter, who knew how the humans messed with the chronograph. Oh well, time to leave. Willy tried the door, locked. No matter. Willy touched the doorknob for a moment, discovering how it was made. The key that would fit it giving him the moves he needed to open it. A couple hairpins, 'liberated' from Joanna, a few proper turns and he was out!

The guards were gone, who knew where? Didn't matter. Time to go. Now, which room was Jaunt's? Think, think, think. That room, right there. Willy walked over to the door, a cart came by, with a few boxes of MREs. Willy stopped the cart, opened a box, and pulled out a bag of chicken with potato wedges, a HOOAH! bar, crackers and peanut butter, dairy shake, utensils, seasonings, and heating pad. Willy knocked on the door then. "Moj kalieha (my counterpart), are you there? I got an MRE, probably saw that, huh?"

 

[DeletedUser25825]

Jaunt looked toward the door as Willy knocked on it and called out to her. She stood, and opened the door. She smiled at Willy and his prize and stepped aside. "Hello Willy. Please come in." She closed the door after he entered, and moved to her bed to sit upon it. She looked at the two in her room and smiled. "I'm assuming you're here to learn something about what's going on around here?"

She continued to smile, and laced her delicate fingers together. "I don't know exactly where you're going, but I know it's hot, with alot of sand. There is a lot of angst, and mistrust, but I can't tell if it's from our friends, or the reason you're there." She shrugged her bony shoulders, "I'm guessing it won't be internal, but I can't say for sure. I brushed past Colonel Wilkinson in mess, and know she will be present." She pointed at Willy, "So I could only conclude you will be there as well."

 

[DeletedUser26409]

It seemed as if Trace wanted to say something else, but he didn't. Micky sighed again. "Oh how I wish I'd been there." He thought that he would like to say something else but he just didn't know what to say. "Who would know if I ever get out of here," he said more to himself than Trace. Who indeed. Jaunt.

"Well thanks for the computer, I'll be forever in your debt," Micky said with a smile. "I'm gonna go see Jaunt anyway." Micky headed toward Jaunt room and knocked on the door.

 

[DeletedUser]

Boss smirked. "I'm the older one here and you act like my mother Jaunt. And I know. Your right. Partly anyways. But ehh, it's fun. I hate the guards. I hate most of the handlers. I get along with the prototypes just fine, and they know I'd die for them in a heartbeat. But they also know I don't like to be pissed off. My only rule. But still, I know, I gotta work on it," he said.

He looked as Willy walked in. "Exactly what I was about to ask. And food! Damnit kid, you got style man," Boss said with a laugh.

Boss turned back around to Jaunt and lifted his arms out for a hug. "I also owe ya this one. You are a sister to me after all," he said with a smile.

 

[DeletedUser25825]

Jaunt leaned over and wrapped her spindly arms around Boss, giving him a tight hug before pulling back and straightening to her full height. "Just remember, if you play nice they're more likely to play nice." She sat back down on her bed and looked toward Willy and his MRE. "What brings you here Willy? Anything aside from what's going on next?"

 

[DeletedUser13682]

Willy opened the door at Jaunt's permission, and stepped in, closing the door behind him, noticing the boBoss was there as well. "Nacht moj kalieha. Nacht Roy 'Roid," Willy said. He walked over to a suitable surface, and set up the safe heater, chicken and potatoes were on their way. "So I wan..." Cut off, drat. Something about them both wanting to know about the mission. Prescience is not omnipotence, as proven by this incident. but it would be good to know what was coming. After Jaunt had finished, the MREwas heated, and Willy passed the food around, handing the bags to Jaunt first. "Here you go, moj kalieha. Freshish chicken and potato wedges. We have salt, pepper and Tabasco if you so deisre."

After the bags were handed off, Willy pondered on what Jaunt had said. "Desert and strife, eh? I'm going to guess, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, or maybe one of those Russian deserts. If the Lt. Colonel is going, guess I go too. Never played in a sandbox, must be fun. Don't know why they need me though, the squad they have together is great, better than me. I live in the past, dance in the ruins. If we go a hunting, like I think we are, wouldn't prescience be better?" Willy thought a minute, shrugged, and movedon. "Anyway, that's not really why I came. Roy 'Roid maybe, not me."

 

[DeletedUser25825]

Jaunt shook her head at the comment Willy made about precognition being used in the upcoming mission. "You know Willy, as much as I do, that they're never going to send me away from Area 51. They won't put me in a situation that would risk my destruction. I could be very valuable I'm sure, but that's why they train all you in all of those team tasks. I'm a big picture type, and will never be able to play like the rest of you."

She sighed and rested her back against the wall. She examined the food Willy had given her with a hint of curiosity, but set it aside for the time being as she'd already eaten. She looked toward her door as a soft knock sounded and she smiled. "My goodness I'm a regular popular type today." She leaned over, turned the knob and pushed the door open.

She smiled at Micky and nodded. "Come on in. Join the party." She nodded toward the MRE portion Willy had offered her as she asked, "Would you like to try what the soldiers eat?"

 

[DeletedUser26409]

"Hey Jaunt," Micky said as he entered the room. Willy and Boss were there as well. One couldn't mostly see as many prototypes together. Micky suspiciously examined the food Jaunt offered him. He had never seen any food like this before. But then again soldiers ate it. And it actually did smell in a way that suggested that it'd be tasty. Micky amplified his smell perception. Yup, it would taste good. "I guess I'll give it a go," Micky said as he sat down into a corner. He took a bite and said: "But the reason I'm here..." He swallowed the mouthful of food. "...is NOT..." he raised his finger, giving himself a somewhat funny look. "...to eat your food, but..." he raised his finger even higher. "...to ask you if any missions are coming up AND..." he swinged his finger. "...if I will take part." He lowered his finger and looked looked Jaunt in her incredibly blue eyes with an impression of sadness and longing.

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

Trace watched Micky leave, then turned back to his desk. He alone had not been given a computer due to the fact the scientists absolutely did not want him to come in contact with a thing called "the internet". He had heard a bit about this thing from other prototypes, but it seemed that as soon as one of them mentioned it, a scientist came and took him somewhere for a drill of some sort. He had been told what programs to avoid since they connected to the internet, and he had never had the nerve to disobey. He often wondered what it would be like to enter the internet, but refrained from doing so in case the price was his life. He resolved to ask the next prototype he came in contact with.

Trace unlocked a drawer and pulled out his journal. All the prototypes were told to keep a journal, but he had no idea if anyone else had followed through on this request. He did know the rest of them were supposed to keep theirs on their computer, but for the the mysterious internet, he had to physically write his down. He wrote about the mission, and the fact that Micky had messed up his computer again. He hesitated, then shrugged. No one was to read any journal but their own, so what was the harm? I was one of the earliest prototypes, along with Boss and Jaunt. We were not told many things some of the others did. One concept I still do not understand is that of emotions. Boss seems to have grasped the idea...he's become far more vivacious these past few years, but Jaunt seems much like me. I know emotions to be something you "feel", but at the same time it is nothing physical. Perhaps these emotions are what makes the corners of my mouth twitch and rise slightly at times...and perhaps they are the cause of my nervousness around Mouse. The implications of emotions are likely to be vast, but as I do not understand them, I cannot speculate. Perhaps I'll ask a scientist one of these days. Trace ended the journal there, and locked it away again, slipping the key into his pocket. He had been told to keep the drawer with it locked, and although he didn't understand why, it was best to comply.

 

[DeletedUser25825]

Jaunt studied Micky for a few moments and sat up from the wall. She held her lanky hands outward toward him with her palms facing upward. This was not unusual, and the prototypes knew physical connection with a person helped Jaunt focus her sight as it relates to that individual more easily. She smiled and winked at Micky as he rested her hands on hers.

She took a deep cleansing breath and closed her eyes. She frowned slightly in thought and slowly nodded. "Yes. I see you in the back of a Us Marine MTVR. It's dark, and cold. I see desert, and mountains." She frowned as she tilted her head to the side slightly and squeezed Micky's hands gently, wrapping her fingers over the top of his hands.

"The convoy is under attack. Men in red Shemagh with Kalashnikov rifles." She shook her head and opened her eyes pulling her hands back to herself. "I'm sorry Micky, I can't continue my sight. I've lost it." She looked at the gathered prototypes and smiled slightly. "Looks like it might be a bit hectic eh?"

 

[DeletedUser25825]

Mouse sat on her bed and chewed on the back end of her colored pencil as she studied what she was drawing. When she realized she was chewing, she stopped remembering Colonel Wirtz had often told her chewing non-food items was a disgusting habit. She frowned at her picture and grunted in disgust at it. She stood up and tossed the pencil onto her desk, tucked the sketch pad under her arm, and exited her room. She looked down the hallway, noting the guards, and lifted her hand toward them in a tiny wave.

She walked down the hallway, noting Jaunt's door was open and she was seemingly quite popular. She stopped at the doorway and listened to Jaunt discuss Micky's future and shook her head. She turned and continued down the hallway. She liked Jaunt like a sister, but did not wish to know anything of what was to come. She preferred her strict lifestyle of control and orders. Let the others worry, she did not clutter her mind with what might bes.

She paused by Trace's room, noting the door slightly ajar. She pushed it open with the tip of her index finger and saw Trace within. "Hello A00-1706. I need advice on a matter." She frowned and blinked before continuing, "No! Two matters in fact. The first." She pulled the sketch pad from underneath her armpit and held up a truly rough portrait of the hostage they had rescued. "What do you think? I was trying to draw buildings of New York City, but this woman continued to invade my memories. Hopefully, by drawing her I can be done with that nonsense."

She nodded as she listened to his response, before asking, "My second thing is more of a concern. While traveling in our convoy through New York City, I experienced something I have no word to describe, and thought maybe you did. It occurred while observing the surroundings and I can only describe it as mental hunger." She looked confused and shook her head. "It is not the right description, but it's all I can think of. Do you think it's something I should inform my handler of?"

 

[DeletedUser26409]

Micky smiled back at Jaunt as he rested his hands on her. Her hands were warm. He felt her take a deep breath, saw her frowning and start talking. Sand. Desert. Mountains. He would get to go on the mission. He cheered inside. An MTVR. He felt a slightly stronger pressure on his hands. Jaunt tilted her head. The convoy. Attack. Jaunt suddenly stopped talking. "I'm sorry Micky, I can't continue my sight. I've lost it." Jaunt looked at the prototypes and smiled but Micky barely heard her next words.

Could Jaunt have seen his death? Did her visions usually end like that. He didn't know. If she had really seen it he was thankful that she hadn't said it. For some it would've been better to know the truth rather than this doubt. For Micky it wasn't. For him it was the hardest thing to accept the inevitable. Not that he feared death. He just couldn't take the inevitability.

Micky answered Jaunt: "Sure seems that way. At least I'll get out of here." He smiled.