Chapter 1

It was early, not even a quarter past seven, when Raylene Parker woke. She struggled to sit up enough to see the glowing green numbers on the digital clock over her fiancé’s shoulder. She flopped back down, cursing herself for being awake and alert and such an ungodly hour on  a weekend. She dozed, trying to fall back into a deeper sleep, for a half hour before giving up with a sigh. She kissed her fiancé, Randy, on the cheek and he stirred slightly.

“Shh, you have plenty of time to sleep. I’m just going to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” It wasn’t a lie, she really did have to pee, but it could probably wait another hour if she could have slept. Instead she rolled over him, pausing to kiss him again, grabbed a house coat, and padded down the hall.

She took her time in the bathroom, washing her face and neck with cool water even though she would probably spend most of the day feeling cold. It was, after all, a normal, bitter cold, Canadian November. She felt claustrophobic, even though the apartment was spacious. The walls felt tight, the cold outside was restricting, everything was pressing down on her.

She looked at her face in the mirror. Her cheeks were red from being scrubbed with the rough cloth but her skin was usually pale, especially in the winter. Her short cropped red hair was mussed from the uneasy sleep she had gotten that night. Her usually intense green eyes started back at her with a mix of exhaustion and anxiety.

She left the bathroom and went to the living room. There she picked up the phone. The first number she dialled was her boss. After a few rings there was the familiar click of a phone being picked up and a false cheerful female voice said, “Good-morning, Fresh Cup Coffee Shop. How may I help you?”

“Sherry? It’s Raylene. Put our esteemed boss on the phone.”

“Will do Sugar. Hold on a sec.”

There was a hollow silence, and then, “Good morning, James speaking.”

“James, it’s Raylene.”

“Don’t tell me, you can’t make it.”

“Oh, I can make it. But I just spent the last hour puking my guts out, and I’m not even hung over so don’t start bitching me out. I’ll come in, but I don’t think you want me passing this on to customers or staff. I’d hate to see everyone miss a few days.”

“Fine. Stay home. But you’re not getting paid for today.”

“I’m not concerned. I’ll call you tonight and let you know how I’m feeling.”

She hung up without a pleasant good-bye. She didn’t like James, he was a pervert and tended to flirt with every female member of his staff. Raylene herself had been forced to invite Randy to pick her up from work for two weeks straight, and make a big deal out of kissing Randy in full view of James, before James got the message to piss off.

Raylene made two more phone calls to old friends who she know would be awake, and who would have information she needed. That finished she returned to her room and powered up her computer. The wall above the desk lit up with scrolling numbers and letters as the system came to life. She put on her microphone/earphone headset as the holographic keyboard flickered to life across the smooth wooden surface of her desk.

“Password please,” a pleasant voice said in her ear.

Raylene preferred typed codes and her fingers flicked over the illuminated keys. Behind her Randy was finally starting to stir.

“Aren’t you going to be late for work?” he muttered as he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

“Called in sick,” she replied, her eyes glued to the screen as she navigated her way to her mail box.

He yawned and stretched. “Probably a good thing. There’s a lot we need to talk about.”

“Later.”

“Later?” He sounded suddenly much more awake. “We don’t have a lot of time and this is a huge decision.”

“I need more information. Aha, good, he sent it.”

“Who? What?”

“Jesse. I asked him to send me some information on coding.”

“Why? You told me that stuff bored you and made your eyes go all scrambly.”

“I know. But it’s necessary.”

He shook his head. “So I’m just supposed to wait for you? This is my future we’re deciding. Maybe I want to talk now.”

She shrugged. “It’s my future too.”

“Raylene!”

“We’ll talk, I promise, today. But I need more information. I can’t just let you leave based on a conversation  with some ideologically crazed general.”

“General Edding did not seem crazy.”

She smiled. “Maybe not.”

“Okay. Fine. I’m going to go work out for a while. I need to think anyways.” He kissed her cheek. “I love you.”

“Love you too. See you in a bit.”

As Randy left a small box appeared on her screen, a box containing Steven’s face. Raylene granted the program permission to run and soon heard Steve’s voice in her ear. “You’re up early.”

“Thanks for the help.”

“Any time. This is what I do.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“Right, because you’re miss goody-good. I’m honoured to be asked for assistance. Pray tell me, what am I hacking today?”

“You’re not. You’re going to teach me.”

She watched his expression on the screen. His eyes went wide and then he blinked a few times. He licked his lips slowly before talking again. “Alright. Access the page you want, like you were viewing it, then tell me what you see.”

She called up a new window, moving him to the top corner so she could still see him. “Okay, the page has a white background, text in columns like a newspaper, a few images, and a menu across the top.”

“Right, you need to call up the shortcut menu.”

She tapped the screen and the list of options popped up. “Got it.”

“Go to properties, near the bottom and read me the screen.”

“Uh... okay. Site name ...”

“Not important.”

“Protocol: Hyperlink. Connection: Encrypted. ...”

“Okay. Close that. Go back into the shortcut menu and click ‘view source’.”

“Ah... this is just a bunch of random symbols. I don’t recognize the language at all.”

“That’s because it’s encrypted. Just copy it into a text program and save it, we may need it.”

“May?”

“If you can’t find the information you’re looking for on the site we’ll translate the source file into English, or at least its original language, and find a few loopholes so we can get to the information you want. You’re not my only date today so I’ll catch up with you later.”

His face disappeared from her screen leaving her to search the Public Information Site of the Advanced Military Training and Research Department for any information that might point her in the right direction.


12 Hours Earlier


“Stop pushing! You’re going to make me spill.”

“I’m not pushing, I’m hugging.”

“Well stop it. I’m trying to make us some tea.”

There was a knock at the door and the young couple eyed each other warily.

“Did you let someone up?”

“No. Did you?”

“No. So how did they get past the front door?”

“Maybe they have the wrong apartment number.”

He sighed. “I hope so. I’ll go look.”

Raylene waited in the kitchen watching the electric kettle on the counter. From the other room she heard, “Mr. Steeves?”

“Yes.”

“We need to talk.”

“I’m on my way to work.”

“We’ve contacted your employer. You aren’t expected at work today. May we come in?”

“Do I have a choice?”

There were footsteps and Randy poked his head in the kitchen. “We have company,” he said softly. “Important company.”

She unplugged the kettle and followed him to the living room where two men in military uniforms sat on the tacky second hand couch.

“This is my fiancé, Raylene Parker.”

“Ms. Parker,” the older man nodded once. “I’m General Edding, this is Lieutenant Fields.”

Raylene sat in the arm chair and Randy grabbed an extra chair from the kitchen. Once they were all settled General Edding spoke again. “I know this is unexpected but we’ve had a bit of a surprise and we need your help.”

“My fiancé is a mechanic. Unless you need something fixed ...”

The general shook his head. “Miss Parker, you’re mistaken as to how your fiancé could help us.”

“The draft is illegal now.”

“Raylene, let him speak.”

She glared at Randy and crinkled her nose but fell silent.

“We’ve made contact, for the first time, with an alien race. They have not openly declared war but they have threatened us. They will be here in a little under nine years and they have sent word that if we do not meet their demands when they arrive that we will be destroyed.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“Their demands are ... altogether unreasonable. And we have no intention of meeting them. That means we have less than nine years to prepare for war.”

“Raylene has a point, the draft is illegal. What do you want with me?”

“We’re not from the standard recruiting office. We’re from the Advanced Military Training and Research Department. We have designs for a new soldier, a man infused with machinery. These soldiers will be stronger and live longer than the average human.”

“Like some mechanoid-bot?”

“There is no bulky armour, no exterior sign that they are anything more than human. They will be equipped with the regular armour and weapons of the infantry.”

“Why ...”

“You, Mr. Parker, fit the physical requirements the program is looking for.”

“There have got to be stronger men than me.”

“Yes. But strength is not all we’re looking for. You also possess ingenuity, honesty, a clean criminal record, and a good genetic record.”

“What would this entail?”

“Some basic military training, a year of surgery and recovery time, some more training, another year of surgery, and some more training. This should take five years of the nine we have available to us. The final two to four years will be spent on advanced training such as flight school. Oh, and you will need time to be integrated with your Guardian Angel.”

“Guardian Angel?”

“Yes. The best minds in computers and tactics are being recruited. They are sacrificing their physical bodies to be integrated into the machinery that will be a part of each soldier. These Angels will be completely inseparable from the soldiers and will serve as advisors, and com links.”

Randy gave his head a shake. “This is a lot to take in, General. You’ll excuse me, of course, if I can’t make a decision now.”

“We understand completely.” Both men stood and the General handed Randy a slip of stiff paper. “Call me within the week to sign up. We have a limited number of positions available in the program so please, the sooner you contact us the better for all involved.”
The officers let themselves out.

Randy stared at the slip of paper in his fingers. The look on his face told Raylene that he was deep in thought. She studied him for a long moment, curious to know what was on  his mind, what he thought of this whole idea, but not wanting to rush him.

Finally the silence became too much for her to bear. “Randy?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re not going to do it, are you?”

He continued to stare at the paper. “It’s the chance of a lifetime.” His voice was distant.

“But I need you. I need you to come home every night. I want to get married, and have children, and grow old with you.”

“I love you too.” Still that distance, still lost in his own thoughts.

A few tears slipped down her cheek, unnoticed by either one of them.

He shook his head and set the paper down on the polished wooden coffee table. “Looks like I have the night off.”

She held out her hand to him and he came over to her. He settled on the wide arm of the chair and took her hand in his. “We’ll think about this. We’ll talk in the morning. I won’t decide anything without talking to you.”

She nodded, any words she might have said were stuck behind the lump in her throat. He tugged her arm, leading her off the chair. “Please, let me hold you for a while.”

She nodded again and they turned in early.