Chapter 30

The next morning we were split in the exact same two groups as the day before. As we followed Leonard back to the room, instead of being told to go back to our rigs, we were told to stay gathered for a briefing. As we stood by, I noted a few trainees within my group, I hadn’t been paying much attention yesterday as it was all a blur; I saw Trainee Middleton here. I recognized a guy named Slampa, I never spoke to him much. There were a few others, Walsh, Stone, and Prescott… the rest I didn’t interact with too much.

It got me thinking I need to branch out more; me and Tom were two peas in a pod since I got here, and I realized how few of my fellow trainees I actually knew. Given we are obviously in… something together, maybe I will try and talk to some of them after this.

After a few moments, the ‘click, click, click’ of an MTI’s boots could be heard entering the room. They all wore these metal plates on their boots, it took us a few weeks, but it was some form of diabolical psychological warfare. After the first few weeks it put you on edge when you heard it; it was like knowing a shark was in the water around you.

Everyone in the group tensed, going to attention. Its something we had to do when they entered the room… don’t ask me why, we just did now out of force of habit.

The MTI came around the side of the group, walking up to the front of the group, and using a crisp facing movement to face us. He had 5 stripes on the rank insignia on his chest, signifying he was a Technical Sergeant. I don’t recall seeing him before.

“Trainee’s, at ease!” He called out, and everyone in the room relaxed into a standby position - hands behind the small of their back, feet shoulder width apart. We stared at the newcomer.

“My name is Technical Sergeant Scott Cantor!” He called out, “You will refer to me as Sergeant Cantor!”

“Yes sir, Sergeant Cantor!” We trainees echoed.

“I will be your Non-Commissioned Officer in charge for the remainder of your week in this simulation. As you have all discovered, you cannot remember anything of what happens inside of Babylon. This is due to national security concerns, do you understand?”

The echoed response repeated.

“However, I am here to tell you that three of you perished in yesterday’s exercise.”

There was a shocked silence, and I realized those empty stations… that must have been what happened.

“Trainees Lozano, Riggs, and Maher, come to the front!”

They did as asked. All three of them looked… sick? Tired? It was hard to tell, but they certainly didn’t look like they had just woken up less than an hour ago.

“Trainee’s, can you tell me how you feel right now?” TSgt Cantor asked, a serious look on his face and he eyed the three who stepped forward.

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The girl, Trainee Maher, spoke up first, “Uh… I have a headache.”

One of the trainees nodded, speaking up quickly, “Yeah, and I wasn’t able to keep any food down last night.”

TSgt Cantor nodded, “Thank you Trainee Lozano.” He looked out over the crowd of us, stepping to be seen by everyone. “When you die, your body feels it. This war you wage in the name of our brothers and sisters, it is appreciated. But bring yourself back in one piece.”

He looked at each of us in turn, “Do not take unnecessary risks. Think on your feet. Do whats best, but most of all, try not to die. As your NCO In Charge I will provide you updates on your progress, and a debrief to each of you at the end of the day from here on. Whatever we talk about during the debrief is for your ears alone, so do not spread this information. Do you understand?”

Again, we echoed out the affirmative.

“Good. We will be splitting into two teams; day and night shift. This will allow us maximum flexibility. So, the following trainees will be assigned to dayshift; Lozano, Maher, Riggs, Watson, Adams, Miller, Slampa, and Stratton. The rest of you, you will report back here at 2000 tonight. This is subject to change as battlefield conditions are fluid, do you understand?”

We echoed again, this time a bit less heartily. So half of us are coming back in 12 hours, and expected to power through the simulation? Was he nuts?

“Outstanding, day shift to your stations, night shift I will see you later today!”

Diondre once again helped me into my rig, this time it taking far less time as he didn’t need to explain every bit to me. I did struggle a bit with the suit, but otherwise it went pretty seamlessly.

As Diondre took his place next to his small workstation, he looked at me giving me a thumbs up. “Today will be much more straightforward; continue where you left off. Oh… and close your eyes again as you put on your head gear, and take some deep breaths.”

I did as he said, closing my eyes as I adjusted the headset over my head. I took a few deep breaths, then opened my eyes…

And I projectile vomited right onto Slampas chest. It felt like it went on forever, even though it was maybe 10 seconds… jesus, why is this like this?!

As I took in gulping breaths, trying to calm myself again, I took stock of the team. Slampa was looking down in disgust, peeling his tunic off. I was thankful that we couldn’t smell in here. Adams had also thrown up, off to the side of where he was laying the night before. Middleton looked green, but I could tell he was taking deep, calming breaths. I still didn’t see Miller, she must be getting ready still.

After another few minutes I was alright, standing up straight. “Sorry Slampa, I didn’t mean to…”

Slampa grumbled, as he dug through a bag near the campfire. “Well, at least the shock of being vomited on distracted me, because I was about to puke as well. Hopefully theres something in here…”

I nodded, “Sorry again. How are you guys?”

Adams was standing up, brushing himself off. “That teleportation shit sucks. I hope we get used to it.”

Bryce nodded, “Yeah, luckily I did a lot of meditation before joining, so I kinda just… breathe through it. Puking is the worst. Where's Miller?”

I shook my head, “Don’t know, she should have logged in by now…”

Slampa was sliding on a new tunic, looking much happier now. “Ah… much better.”

As if on cue, Miller suddenly appeared… and vomited on Slampa again.

“Mother fu…”

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