Starcorp 1: Escape from Sol

Sawyer’s day started off as it had hundreds of times before. The only significantly unusual event this day was the prolonged presence of his mother at the start of it. Wendy prepared his breakfast and kissed him goodbye on his way out the door. This type of sendoff only occurred on those days when his mother had the day off from work. Normally, her presence at the start of his day was fleeting, if at all. She nearly always had her own preparations to make for the start of her work day. And seldom did she slow down to help her teenage children get ready for school. But when it was convenient to do so she attended to this task with relish. Sawyer took nearly as much pleasure from this attention as she.

After leaving the family home on this morning, Sawyer made his way to his school and began attending to his schedule of courses with slightly less than his usual diligence. His thoughts kept wandering off to a time to come later in that day. He had been invited to an event that was unlike anything he had ever been a part of before. His fascination for it kept his thoughts in constant conflict with what was happening in the now. School felt like more of an inconvenience on this day than it ever had in the past.

The event that was keeping Sawyer distracted was an arcade game championship. These things were not uncommon in the Star-Corp community, but it was the first such competition within RG01. It was also the first arcade game tournament that Sawyer was qualified to be in. He was looking forward to the competition and for the chance to associate with his competitors. The tournament included players from all five starships and was scheduled to be held on the Starship Dominion. Sawyer was granted time off from his classes so that he could be a participant.

This change in his class schedule made this coming event even more exciting for Sawyer. He had never heard of the school system giving way to an after-school activity. This deference to the tournament gave it importance in his mind. He could not stop himself from fantasizing about who might be in attendance for these games and what the winner would receive.

Sawyer was not the only one among his group of friends that was invited to this tournament. Oscar, Martin, Rebecca, Anthony, and CC had been given invitations too. They were all eager to be a part of the coming games and made plans to travel to it together. Three hours into his school day, Sawyer met up with the first of his friends on the promenade outside of the school. Anthony was giddy with excitement. Oscar and Martin came to the rendezvous together, one minute behind. They were followed by Rebecca and CC three minutes later.

The group greeted one another pleasantly, except CC. She had made it her practice to display a testy disregard towards Sawyer. Her belief that he was not attracted to her was the fuel that kept this attitude going. Despite this treatment, Sawyer was gracious in return. This was an apologetic expression and, in part, an effort to win back her affinity for him. His attraction to CC went up as suddenly as his regard for Sharon went down. He quickly learned that he could not abide being with someone that would think to use him as callously as Sharon had done. Because of this education, CC’s past affinity for him became doubled in value. This change of mindset notwithstanding, his read on CC was that she would not soon be receptive to his advances. Because of this read of the situation, Sawyer kept this inclination hidden for fear of another rejection.

“Everybody ready for this?” Anthony questioned with a jubilant smile.

They all confirmed that they were with lesser enthusiasm than Anthony. One minute later they were all inside a transport pod that was navigating its way to Docking Bay 5. Ten minutes behind that they were all crammed inside a shuttle that was just beginning to take flight for the Dominion. Nearly all the fifty-seven people aboard the shuttle were Physalia arcade gamers. For the past two years, this was the most popular game in the arcades, and all of the frequent participants of this pastime were familiar with Physalia.

Sawyer recognized the faces of most of the gamers in the shuttle with him. He had on occasions spoken to half of them over the past two years. This level of familiarity was present in all that were there. The proximity of this congregation of acquainted arcade players gave rise to a boisterous thirty-minute trip. More than one passenger, which was not a part of this group, was perturbed by the distraction this created.

When the shuttle arrived aboard the Dominion, the arcade players came near to a race as they floated into the starship and for the adjacent transport pod bank. Members of this group filled the first six transport pods to arrive at the bank and rode them down to the promenade floor. Their exit point was just a short walk away from the Dominion 3 Auditorium. By the time Sawyer and his friends arrived, there were more than two-hundred arcade players, gathered from all nine starships, seated inside. A podium was positioned at the center of the stage and a large monitor behind that. The width of the monitor was near to the equal of the length of the stage. There were no people standing on the stage. Sawyer and his friends took seats eight rows back. They sat in the order of Rebecca, Martin, CC, Anthony, Sawyer and Oscar, from left to right. Shortly after sitting they began to converse with each other as they waited for the event to begin.

The ingress of more gamers slowed to a stop over the next twelve minutes. Two minutes later the doors at the back of the auditorium were closed. The Ushers that had been attending to this gathering departed to the other side of them. One minute later the lights dimmed by half. The murmur of voices from five hundred and sixty-three gamers went silent in response to this. Thirty seconds behind this a man appeared from behind the curtain to the right.

Sawyer noted that the man was tall, lean and had the physique of an athlete. This was noticeable even through his RG01 Space Force uniform. His hair was light brown and short. His face was chiseled and clean shaven. He walked quickly across the stage on a line that lead straight to the podium. As soon as he was positioned behind it, he stood there for a dozen seconds and scanned his audience, and then he began to speak.

“The first thing I should tell you is that you have been brought here under a false pretense. There is no Physalia Championship Playoff.”

Joshua Sloan paused to give time for this statement to cogitate within the thinking of all there.

“My name is Joshua Sloan. My job title here at RG01 is Director of Special Projects. This title is intentionally misleading. I say that because RG01 is a special project, and I am in-charge.”

Joshua paused so that his audience could assimilate this.

“RG01’s Board of Directors and Executive Officers answer to me. Everything here is jointly owned by all BX01 member Starcorps. I answer to the Starcorp League.”

Joshua paused to note their reaction with a slow pan of the auditorium.

“Physalia is the scientific name for a species of marine life indigenous to Earth’s Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. Its common name is Man of War. The Physalia Warcraft is real. We spent the past five years designing, engineering and constructing it. We call it a Man of War or Mow for short.”

Joshua paused for effect.

“I have been given the task of building a war machine for the expressed purpose of fending off any military action directed at the starcorps from Earth. All of you have been unwittingly playing a role in the development of this war machine.”

A faint murmur of surprise rose from the audience in response to this revelation. It went silent after two seconds and Joshua continued.

“The preliminary designs of the cockpit, the control systems and battle tactics for the mows were put into the Physalia arcade game. Based on data that we acquired from your play over the past two years, we’ve made dozens of changes in the cockpit design, control systems and software. Every few months we would upgrade Physalia with these changes and test it by monitoring your play with the new version of the game. For the past two years, all of you have been our test pilots. We—I thought it unwise to start pilot training before settling on a final configuration of the cockpit and the control systems. Pilot training started six months-ago.”

Joshua’s audience watched and listened in transfixed silence as he explained this.

“We have two hundred and eighty-four mows.”

Joshua took a moment to note their reaction before speaking again.

“Recent events on Earth have caused us to accelerate our training timeline. We’ve discovered that the Alberta Alliance and its allies on Earth have been secretly constructing a space force. We believe this has been going on for more than a year. And we now believe that they are planning to move against us.”

This information generated an audible stir in the auditorium. Joshua paused for a moment to note this and to let it dissipate.

“For the past five years, the starcorps have been making extensive upgrades to all starships, factory-starships, agricultural-starships and construction-starships built before that year. These upgrades will make it possible for a starship to complete an interstellar trip in a matter of months instead of decades. We have found a way to do it. These upgrades have been completed in ninety percent of these ships. However, the BX01 League believes that our time has run out. As of thirty-two hours ago, the BX01 Starships are on the move away from the Earth. All official channels of communication between Earth and us are gone. We are anticipating that Earth will react to this. And we believe this reaction will involve their space force. I am under orders to activate the RG01 War Machine. And that is why you are here.”

Joshua activated the large display monitor behind him with a touch of his finger on the display screen of the com-link on the back of his left hand.

“These are your top three game scores from the past month.”

Joshua turned about so that he could see the names scrolling up the screen. He waited for all the names to past before changing the display with a brief manipulation of his com-link display.

“These are your loss ratios over the same period,” Joshua reported with a sober delivery. “The number on the left is the total number of levels that each of you played. The number in the middle is the number of times your avatar was killed throughout these levels. And the number on the right is the percentage.”

The list of their names and stats scrolled up the screen. Within two minute’s time, all the names had passed. After a pause, Joshua changed the display on the monitor behind him.

“These are your mission completion totals, attempts, wins, and percentages,” Joshua advised just as the display began to scroll.

This information moved up the screen as well. Two minutes later it was gone. Joshua gave them time to absorb the information he had just showed them before speaking again.

“We recruited three-hundred-and-seventeen skilled starcorp pilots and security force personnel from all across the solar system. Here are their game scores over the last month.”

Joshua changed the display on the monitor behind him. As the data scrolled up the screen, the audience examined the numbers with murmurs of awe and shock. The scores were on the level of a novice by comparison to theirs. Five minutes later the last of this data scrolled off the screen. After this Joshua began to speak again.

“Simply put, after six months of training our recruits are not half as good as you.”

Joshua paused to give time for this information to be understood by all present. And then he continued in a solemn tone of voice.

“What’s at stake in this conflict is the future health and welfare of every man, woman, and child living in the starcorps. If it comes to a fight, we will be outnumbered—and by more than a little. I need the best mow pilots available.”

Joshua paused for five seconds to give that statement time to resonate within the thoughts of his audience. He then spoke again with a heavy inflection of finality.

“I need you—We need you.”

A silence gripped the audience as though they were all frozen in time. Joshua gave them a few seconds to absorb what he had just said. At the back end of this, he turned on the monitor behind him. A concise framework of the pay scale for RG01 Space Force Servicemen was laid out across the screen. One second after it had appeared Joshua began to speak again with less emphasis attached to his word.

“If you choose to join the RG01 Space Force you will be given the same contract as the other recruits.”

Joshua gave his audience a moment to note the pay scale behind him and then he spoke again with an inflection of regret.

“If you choose not to join, then you won’t be here when I come back. You have ten minutes to decide.”

After a pause to visually scan every sector of the auditorium, Joshua turned to his left and walked off the stage.

A rumble of movement and the murmur of voices rose from the auditorium floor at the instance that Joshua had disappeared behind the stage curtains. Forty-two people stood up to leave the auditorium, one after the other, over the span of the first thirty seconds. Many of them left exclaiming that they were not doing this in various phrasings. After this time, the continuous egress stopped. The drone of voices, which were speaking just a little above a whisper, could be heard across the auditorium. The sound that these many voices produced seemed to be laced with an inflection of surprise.

“We have to go,” Rebecca insisted with a shake of her head and in a hushed voice.

Rebecca, Martin, Anthony, Oscar, CC, and Sawyer were nearly in a daze up until this moment. Martin reached out to hold Rebecca’s hand. She clasped her other hand on top of his in that same moment.

“We can’t do this,” Rebecca continued with a hint of hysterics. “It’s a game. We were just playing a game.”

Martin did not know how to respond to this plea. The need for permission from the others prevented him from committing himself one way or the other. Sawyer had not committed himself to staying either, but a feeling of obligation would not allow him to leave. He took heavy breaths as he struggled with this.

“Well hell,” Oscar blurted out with enthusiasm. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m staying.”

Oscar leaned forward in his chair to look down the row at his friends as he continued to seak.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. This is history. I’m doing this.”

Oscar’s outburst had little effect on Sawyer, CC and Martin, but it had an immense effect on Anthony.

“Are you crazy,” Anthony bellowed with a look of astonishment. “This isn’t a game. People are going to get killed. You tell him, Sawyer.”

All eyes turned to Sawyer, but he could produce no response. His mind was still locked in a struggle between what he wanted to do and what he felt he had to do. After a long pause of silence, Anthony concluded that he was not going to get the backing that he hoped for and elected to push his argument on his own.

“How many times have all of us been killed in that game?” Anthony questioned with a look of anxiety. “This is not our responsibility. We’re just kids.”

Anthony paused to give room for a reaction from someone other than Oscar. But at the end of this, it was Oscar that spoke.

“Come on Sawyer,” Oscar pleaded. “You know you have to do this. This is stupendous!”

Sawyer took a deep breath before looking to Oscar while shaking his head softly. After a brief pause to stare at his diminutive friend, he spoke.

“Anthony is right, you are crazy.”

“See!” Anthony stressed with finality. “We shouldn’t do this.”

An instant behind this Oscar asked a question of Sawyer with a heavy inflection of disbelief.

“You’re going to take off?”

Once again Sawyer gave his head a soft shake before responding with a sigh.

“No, I’m not leaving. But you’re still crazy.”

“Way to go, Sawyer,” Oscar howled with glee. “Between you and me that Earth Force doesn’t stand a chance.”

Anthony was shocked to point that he jumped up to his feet before speaking with an inflection of incredulity.

“You’re both crazy!”

Anthony looked down the row to cross his gaze with Rebecca’s before speaking with vehemence.

“I’m with you, Rebecca. I’m getting out of here. Anyone else coming?”

Anthony looked back and forth across his row of friends. Rebecca stood up almost immediately. She held on to Martin’s hand as she did.

“Come on, Martin, let’s go,” Rebecca pleaded with a mournful stare.

Martin remained seated as he looked up at his girlfriend with an indecisive expression. After a moment of thought, he responded to her request.

“You go. I have to stay.”

“No, you can’t stay,” Rebecca begged. “You can’t do this.”

“I have to,” Martin insisted as he pulled his hand away from Rebecca’s. “You go. I need to do go.”

Rebecca began to sob softly after hearing this. A few seconds later she began to slip down the row towards Anthony. He, in turn, began to move past Sawyer on his way to the aisle. Just as Rebecca passed CC, she looked back at her and spoke.

“You coming?”

CC looked up at her friend and answered her query with a mixture of surprise and determination in her expression.

“No, I’m staying.”

Sawyer looked across the empty seat between him and CC with a hint of astonishment in his expression. It was his guess that CC’s answer was prompted by his own. An instant later he concluded that he needed to give her a way out.

“You should go,” Sawyer instructed in a firm voice. “No one expects you to do this.”

CC returned Sawyer’s look behind this remark. She immediately took offense to this instruction from him and reacted to it with more than a hint of defiance.

“I was invited here too,” CC insisted. “And my scores are better than most in this auditorium. I’m not going anywhere.”

Sawyer took notice that CC’s decision to stay was strengthened by his suggestion that she leave. Because of this, he elected to say no more about it. Rebecca was equally convinced of her determination to stay and returned to making her way down the row. When she and Anthony got to the aisle, they both paused there to look back at their friends. Several seconds later they turned away and left the auditorium.

Anthony and Rebecca were not the only ones to leave over the time span of the next several minutes. Many left in twos and threes. Between the times that Joshua left the stage and his return to it a total of two-hundred and fifty-two gamers left the auditorium. The remainder sat in silence as they watched Joshua make his way to the podium. All eyes were fixated on him as he stood behind the podium and panned his gaze across the auditorium. All ears were attentive to him as he began to speak a dozen seconds later.

“Is there anyone else that wishes to leave?” Joshua questioned in a solemn tone.

Joshua looked about the auditorium for another ten seconds. When no one moved, he looked down at his com-link, manipulated the display with a few touches of his index finger and registered all there before him into the RG01 Space Force. When he was done with this, he looked up at his audience and spoke once again.

“Welcome to RG01E2182 Space Force.”

Thirty minutes later, from behind this same podium, Joshua Sloan made his broadcast to the entire RG01 Starcorp community.