Chapter One - Part 4

I got myself down to sub-floor seven and into the gym to train the new recruits. The day was uneventful, but strenuous, introducing them to suit controllers and new physical training to condition them to the suit and game requirements.

All the previous gaming they had been exposed to were hand held controllers, intended to log their minds in to games. These kids had been monitored and selected for their potential in hand-eye coordination and comfort with the process of killing.

It was the process of killing that occupied the front of my thoughts for the rest of my session with these kids.

I did not know at that time what war we could possibly be involved in. Our lives at Game Qualifiers have revolved around gaming and this mostly encompassed war scenarios, maps of the planet's regions. And some games even centered around times in history when real wars were fought, but I could not imagine a real conflict where I might be killing a real person.

Honestly I did not know or think about up until that day, why our gaming was important enough for anyone to finance what we did. Maybe in some fleeting imagination I figured we were entertainment of some kind, and even that could be true still.

What I did know is that I would be the Flushers focus all day and then some, they would watch me for erratic behavior, attentive to anything that would indicate a need to disqualify me. The stress level was incredible, I remember just wanting to suit up and go on a mission... at the time, that, would have seemed more peaceful.

I struggled mentally, juggling Kilo's intel, keeping on task with the Boots, and making sure my appearance for the monitor jockeys was placid.

I needed to seem un-disturbed by the prospect of very soon operating in a kill zone with the knowledge that I might be really be killing a live body. It managed to be a very long day that just drained my energy.

I sent the Boots hustling back up to their barracks at days end knowing the rest of their evening would loading programs into boxes, manipulating hand helds, and eating with little sleep.

Sleep... I couldn't wait to get back to get to my ten by ten hole and do that myself, tomorrow would be me and the suit on a mission.