EarthFall

CHAP 3. The human element.

Carson marched down a rust stained corridor towards the mess hall. His boots clicked over the steel grates. The only sound that could be heard apart from the occasional baby crying in the distance. This was a military level, and it was generally quiet.

Only a few hours remained until they suited up. He wished he had more time to go see the celebrations the civilians were throwing in the upper decks. The entire planet had been alight with anticipation for this journey. The planet had been partying for days now. It was the first step in reclaiming their homeland, and it had been a long time coming.

Soon he reached the elevator which took him down, deeper into the restricted Military levels of Mar's underground network.

The door's retracted to reveal a massive underground tunnel, carved out of the red stone decades ago. Pipes, flickering lights, and huge swathes of electrical chords ran the length of the jagged rock walls.

Carson began to take a step but paused suddenly, hearing a whistling noise. After just a moment a bit of steam built up in one of the pipes a few yards ahead, and a brief stream of hot vapor sizzled into the cavern.

Patiently, after the whistling stopped, he covered his mouth and proceeded. It was a familiar route.

After a short walk through the corridors, he was greeted by a familiar face.

"Greetings Cadet, if you're quite done watering your plants, take a seat and hit breakfast. Briefing begins in 5 minutes." Chief Talson was a harsh, bitter man. But he was the Chief. It had always been that way. There was no reason to fight it.

"Yes sir."

Briefing began 2 minutes later.

"Today," The Chief began. "we are embarking on an unprecedented journey. You've all been trained for the worst case and the unexpected, and you're all familiar with the mission objectives. So I'm not going to beat a dead cat. What I want to talk about today is the possible existence of AI."

There were whispers throughout the room as all 18 Cadets shared nervous looks with each other.

The AI that had triggered the Nukes and destroyed 90% of the human population, 300 years ago, forcing them to escape into the deep caves of mars. That Ai. Everyone knew about it but you didn't talk about it much. It only caused fear to speculate. Much like the boogeyman. Monsters should be accounted for, after all.

"Alright now settle down everyone! As you all know, there are protocols for dealing with this. And that's what we'll be going over today. So far--"

Cadet Brianna Laywhelm raised her hand. She was the human relations specialist, and the only one who could get away with interrupting him. The Chief sighed.

"Yes, Bri?"

"Ok so does that mean that the AI is still on earth? I thought all the mechanical facilities for creating drones or portable machines were demolished in the--"

"Yes, Cadet Brianna. That is the current hypothesis. Now. If you'll allow me to finish?" Silence filled the room for a good 3 seconds.

"Excellent. As I was saying. So far there has been no evidence so far of Ai existence. The planet seems to be free of any large scale artificial structures of any kind, according to the sentinels on Luna. But we need to be sure. There is one location that Luna has spotted with a strange signature. Any potential existence of remaining Ai tech will most likely be there."

The Chief sipped his coffee before continuing.

"Yes. We are going down to establish possible locations for colonization. And yes, we will be bringing back any bio-matter samples we find for our buddies in the think tanks to play with. But our primary mission... our number one goal going down is to scout the location, and destroy any possible Ai tech or structures that might still be present."

Almost everyone jumped together at once.

"Yes Cadet tucker?" The chief asked our languages specialist.

"Is it possible there are still Old Worlders living there?"

"Glad you asked. Anythings possible, that's why we have you and Cadet Brianna with us. In the extremely unlikely event anyone has survived in some sort of cave system I'm sure you'll be able to decipher whatever primitive dialect they're using, and/or peacefully convince them we aren't a threat." The Chief remarked.

"What if they decide otherwise?" Cadet Tucker asked, ignoring Chief's sarcasm.

"Precisely the reason you've all been trained in classical combat and modern warfare Cadets. But the real risk with any other human hostiles isn't potential natives, I think. If we run into anyone else it will most likely be pirates. Deserters from the mining colonies who may have checked our orbit and are looking to Raid the ship."

"Do you think they could be living on Earth now? Could the deserters have drilled deep underground, like we have here?" Carson suddenly asked aloud. The Chief eyed him quietly, thinking about how to answer.

"As we all know the Earth has not healed from the radiation damage. So we've taken some extra precautions with the Exo suits, and I think this will be a non-issue for the duration of our stay. However without military grade exosuits to protect from the radiation and filter the air, any expedition shouldn't last more than a few months before everyone died, unless they found extensive cave systems or, like you said, drilled into the ground. That being said, all Mining equipment is integrated with failsafes that prevents operations from being performed outside of their designated territories. HUD doesn't take matters of unlicensed tech use or tampering lightly. You should know that."

He spit the last part out, and Carson knew exactly what he was talking about. He had once spent a month in solitary confinement for overriding the safety of his phase rifle from stun to lethal without having the proper authorization.

"Now, if we are all quite up to date on the human element, or most likely lack thereof in this case, we can finally begin rehearsing protocols for AI contact one last time before we suit up. It will be the first of many on this journey. Who wants to start us off?"

It was happening. In just a few hours, they were going to fire off into the dark unknown, bound for their birthright. Their true home.

Cadet Carson quietly stepped out to use the bathroom. He was alone, that was good.

No one heard him puke.