Chương 1: A Rookies First Day

Ch. 1 - A Rookies First Day My hands shook as I fastened the harness. They only stopped trembling from my grip on the throttles, knuckles turning bone white.

"Order of departure," said the automated voice.

"6."

"Hey, Rook," said team leader Jacob.

"The first scan is weird. Are you ready?"

"Yes, sir," I said. I ran through the day in my head. I took a breath, as I remembered the day to ground myself. I hummed a tune. My favorite tune from the Earth database. I couldn't believe I was here.

"Mijo," said Mom, earlier in the solar day. She was preparing my favorite meal for lunch. Her messy, curly hair was half held together by a single hair tie that was holding on by a single, binding fabric. Her blue jumpsuit was half zipped up and her last patient's blood was long dried on her leg.

"Did you finish the paperwork? They won't let you go if you don't finish the paperwork."

"Yes, Mom!" I spent so many hours in the simulator to get to wear the white jumpsuit that I owed it to myself to put it on before I made way to my first real launch. The ones that always wore it were annoying, showing off that they were pilots. Now? I earned it. I understood. I turned the corner, the white jumpsuit zipped and buttoned all the way up. I made a show like the people in Z block with their fancy garments and jewels, holding out my hands and making a practiced spin.

"How do I look?" I asked. She covered her mouth and gasped. the tears welling on her face were fought back.

"Mijo, you look just like your father." She threw her arms around me and quietly sobbed for a moment. I had worked so hard for this. Yeah, I was technically bottom of the class, but the second best pilot in terms of skill.

"Thanks, Mom," I said, returning the hug. It was only for a moment before she straightened up, fixing my collar and inspecting my earned jumpsuit.

"Your lunch is ready. Remember to eat before you step into the cockpit. Don't over do it on your first vuelo."

"It's not a flight, Mom, it's a delve. I'm a Delver."

"Will your robot be using thrust?" She pouted.

"That's what I thought. It's a vuelo until it isn't." She took a deep breath and stiffened her face as best she could.

"I'm proud of you, mi corazon. I know how hard you worked for this."

"Thanks, Mom. I'm off now to go make us some money so I can move you, us into Z block." She puffed an indignant sound. Her hands trembled and her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. If I called attention to it, it would diminish her bravery and she'd deny it.

"I don't need that. I'm happy with what we have. But since you're out making money, how about you get me a spa day. Your mom needs a break." I laughed.

"I'll see what I can do." The glossy metallic front door slid open with a wave of my hand. She stood at the door as I waved at her before losing sight of her at the first corner of the dizzying metallic corridors. Rattle. Two hours later of no detours, I had made it. The door swished open with a simple wave to the single largest room in the whole colony ship. I stepped to the security booth and a tired black suit was impatiently waiting for me to hurry up.

"Hello, sir," I said.

"It's my first day."

"I can see that," he said.

"You got your release form?"

"Yes, and the underage release form." He nodded, taking them both through the slit in the security booth. He eyed them for a moment, looking for even a typo to tell me to try again tomorrow. No way in hell buckeroo. I wrote each letter so slowly it cramped my hand. And to reduce any possibility of error, the only thing my mom had to do with it was sign.

"Everything is in order." He scanned both pages and shredded them into the recycler. Official documents were on paper, no exceptions. They had to be scanned and then shredded to the recycler so more paper could be made for other official documents.

"Alright. Take the mag-lift to crew station 1. That's where your squad is to meet." I don't know why I saluted the black suit. But I did and he laughed.

"I'm a security guy, buddy. Don't do that. I'm not like you crazy nut jobs." I nodded and my cheeks burned red with embarrassment. He flashed a badge and the door to my left opened. When I stepped through, the smell of oil and dreams filled my nose immediately. Rattle.

"At ease kid," said squad leader Jacob as soon as I entered the pre-launch squad bay. I gave a salute literally as soon as I walked in.

"You're stressing me out kid. Take a breath and take a seat. We're still waiting on two or more to show." As soon as I stopped saluting, he took my hand to shake it.

"Name's Jacob. Just Jacob. I don't do well with titles." He grinned and returned to his bench seat, opening up his tablet. The doors swished open and two more arrived. One looked like he just came back from the worst day of his life, his pale skin looked bone white. The other walked straight to his locker, regarded me with a nod and began putting on his walker suit.

"Huddle up," said squad leader Jacob.

"Eric, Phil. As you can see, we have a new recruit. I'm sure you can remember the first time you delved. So, why don't you introduce-" If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Rattle.

"3""Sup," said the sickly looking man.

"I'm Eric. Uh. I like to drink and have fun."

"Try again," said team leader Jacob. Eric sighed.

"I am the senior pilot and I pilot a Beast mech. I find the stability really nice when I'm hungover." He piloted a very mobility based mech, usually a quadrupedal unit. Hard to pull off right, and at first even I struggled with them.

"Close enough," said team leader Jacob.

"I'm Phil. I pilot a Tank class mech with mobility from all terrain threaded tracks." They dished out limited firepower but they could take a pounding. He offered to shake my hand, so I did. Eric didn't, he got to his locker, pulled a bag and threw up. Phil's eyes blinked continuously as if from a tic. Noticing that made me feel like a jerk…

"And you know me. I also pilot a Beast mech. I was looking through your file. You specialized with bi-pedal ones? Walkers?"

"Yes sir. Those just came easy to me."

"Nice," said Jacob.

"Well you know the deal, you're in a Gatherer unit until you can find one in the Dungeon. Stay close and we'll get you one. Just be warned it might not be what you want." Jacob led me to a standard gatherer unit. Technically a quadruped unit, it resembled a Tank and Walker. Each could move individually but for mobility could be used in tandem. In the case of lost mobility, the legs could be discarded for the external tracks aboard. The hook claws on each hand responded to pressure sensitive grip throttles.

Movement was a combination of a double gas pedal and neuro-synchronous action. It was important that every trainee become adept with all the mobility options. The Gatherer was about half the size of any of the other units here as well. It could maybe reach the smallest quad mech if it weren't on its hind legs. Then there were the weapons. The weapons from the Dungeon weren't compatible with our tech. Taking them apart turned the entire thing into literal dust.

When checked, it turns out there are millions upon millions of nano-machines that make up each component. So for now, I had to rely on a simple and conventional minigun with the ammo backpack attachment. RATTLE.

"2""I saw that you were the second best pilot in your class?" asked Jacob.

"Yes, sir. I was," I said through gritted teeth.

"Impressive."

"1." Whoosh. Everything was spinning. My stomach, my thoughts. I had a grip so tight on the throttles that my fingers lost feeling. Then a rush of air popped. No, not a rush of air, a rush of a lack of air. I couldn't hear the hooks clipping anymore. The harness pressed against my chest for just a moment as my butt left the seat. My guts were more twisted than before. It was freedom that I was feeling. No gravity or sound. Just endless possibilities. Then my back hit the seat with frightening velocity.

My head snapped against the headrest while my face tried to bury itself to my back. My cheeks were practically touching my ears and keeping my eyes open got harder every second. The vacuum tube was coming to an end and the dungeon was right ahead of me. Like storm clouds gathering in a drought, it had no real shape. It just was. A cloud that you could make out. That you knew what was on the other side. Out of the tube, I slammed the thruster to realign my heading and course. I got closer and closer.

It was like rain was hitting my unit. It wasn't debris, it was wet. But we knew what it actually was. More nanomachines that registered and scanned what was headed towards it. Then it arrived, on the screen of my gatherer, the welcome message to all new arrivals. But there was a second message. Too fast I could only pick up bits and pieces. So fast I thought I hallucinated it. SYSTEM NOTIFICATION NEW PARTICIPANT REGISTERED SCANNING...

WARNING: ONBOARD WEAPONS WILL DEAL INEFFICIENT DAMAGE WARNING: NO PILOT AUGMENTATIONS DETECTED WARNING: THIS UNIT CANNOT USE EXFILTRATION SUBROUTINES IN THE 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 FLOORS SCANNING... SCANNING... SCANNING...

[Ẹ̵̡̠̺͌́̈́͋̐̊̎͆̇̊̿̂͋͂̅̈̉̕͝͝͠ṟ̶͍̞̓̋̐͛͝͠r̷̨̢̛̤̼̠̈́̀̾̇̿̐̿̽̃͋̾̅̈̈́̋̚͝͝ơ̷̢̢̯̮̪̣͓̖͉̬͍̪̹̱̰̘̩͕̙̜̰͔̫̹̭̠̞̩͓͈̖̣̫̩̙̟̝̯͌̐̊͒̑̌͌̐͋͑͑̏͒̓̔̚͜r̵̢̤̟͓͚̭͉̘̰̫̱̙̩̻̗̯͕̞̳͇͙͇̥̎̂͌̒̇] OVERRIDE DENIED OVERRIDE DENIED O̴V̵E̵R̸W̸R̵I̵T̵E̶ ̴A̵P̶P̸R̴O̷V̴E̶D̴ D̷E̴L̸I̷V̴E̵R̴I̵N̴G̶ ̶M̷E̴S̶S̶A̵G̷E̸ ̵F̸R̵O̸M̷ ̵D̶A̷N̶I̷E̵L̸ ̶R̷E̵Y̵E̶S̷ Son, if you're getting this. I'm dead. I'm sorry I couldn't come home to you. This Dungeon... This Cradle, it is more than it appears, son. I found something. This place it - [E̵r̶r̵o̸r̷].

I need you to find a way to get to the 21st floor. It's how we [E̵r̶r̵o̸r̷] a new home. It's how I can keep my promise to your mom. I love you. It's [E̵r̶r̵o̸r̷]. [END OF MESSAGE] WELCOME TO THE CRADLE