The Colonel fidgeted in the embrace of his harness.
Waiting.
“Solid boosters armed,” came over the launch channel. Just like it had in the simulator.
T minus 4 minutes and 17 seconds
He reflected on the uniqueness of his situation. Monsters had come to Earth. From Mars, the stars, and dimensions beyond. In response, the nations of the globe had bonded together in “united advanced research and defense.” He’d just recorded his sixteen hundredth hour of flying fighter jets when GUARD was created.
T minus 4 minutes and 3 seconds.
They’d rolled him into this new worldwide military. Pilots were always in demand, and his solid performance in competitive martial arts had elicited strange excitement in his new command staff. He’d been fast tracked into the “Heavy Asset” program before anyone would tell him what it even was.
T minus 3 minutes and 47 seconds
Once there, they’d lauded his combat instincts. They’d tested how he defended key targets. They’d gushed over his focus once a mission began. In the end, out of all the candidates, they’d chosen him.
And to think, all he’d wanted to be was an astronaut.
T minus 3 minutes and 35 seconds.
“Engine gimbal test completed,” said the launch engineer over the radio
“Ecks, gimme a quick sitrep,” he called out as he tapped his foot.
Ecks chirped into his ear, “All systems are green across the board. Intercept course plotted. Target designate ‘Gorghadra’ has yet to enter the city. Evacuation 87% complete. The only anomaly is your rhythmic muscle contractions, Colonel.”
“Is that what you call tapping my foot impatiently, Ecks? Rhythmic muscle contractions?”
T minus 3 minutes and 13 seconds
“If the boot fits, Colonel. Medical claims that your elevated heart rate, dilated pupils and rhythmic muscle contractions are signs of stress. Are you stressed, Colonel?
He chuckled. To himself and to voice in his headset.
Stress. As if this feeling could be described as mere stress.
T minus 3 minutes and 2 seconds
Here he was, strapped into the command module in the center of the head of a mecha that stood over 20 stories high. His onboard fuel reserves alone couldn’t carry him to the combat zone, so his giant robot was bolted to an external tank that held half a million gallons of rocket fuel.
His mission was to pilot this huge mechanical humanoid through a crowded cityscape to engage and defeat an equally large monstrosity that had burst from the Harbinger comet shard and destroyed Chicago. Command called the thing a Planet Eater. And his job was to punch it to death.
Stress? This pressure was too much for such a simple word.
T minus 2 minutes and 52 seconds
“Colonel?”
“Yes, Ecks. I’m a little stressed. I’m waiting.”
“Would you care to explain, Colonel?”
That was odd. Ecks hadn’t asked about his feelings in the simulator.
T minus 2 minutes and 35 seconds
“This is always the worst part. The mission is set, the course is plotted, the green light is on and I’m waiting, Ecks.”
“Waiting for what, Colonel?”
“To engage and destroy the enemy.”
T minus 2 minutes and 18 seconds
“Launch vehicle cleared,” called out the nameless engineer.
“How about you, Ecks?”
“Colonel?”
“Are you stressed?”
There was a pause.
T minus 2 minutes and 8 seconds
“Ecks?”
“I’m considering your question.. We are prepped for the mission and all systems are designed to endure the physical stresses of the launch, if that is your question, Colonel.”
“No, Ecks, it’s not.”
T minus 1 minute and 37 seconds
“This is our first mission together, Colonel”
The Colonel nodded his head. Ecks was opening up as much as possible.
“We have simulated every combat scenario Command could throw at us, but this combat will be our first in the field. I am not scared, or nervous, or uncertain. I have run all diagnostics thrice over and we are in the green, Colonel.”
There was some small thing that Ecks wasn’t saying.
T minus 1 minute and 14 seconds.
“But?”
“But I cannot help it. I am anticipatory of the battle to come. I am ready, willing, and able to fight, but cannot at this moment. It is a frustrating experience. You are correct, Colonel.”
“About?”
“The waiting is the worst part.”
T minus 60 seconds. Time to act. The waiting was over.
“Visor closed and locked, Command. Ready to assume manual control.”
“Roger that, Heavy Asset 3, you are T minus 55 seconds.”
“You hear that Ecks? We’re going for a ride.”
“Roger that, Colonel. We’ll give them hell.”
“Damn right we will, Ecks. Together.”
T minus 43 seconds
The AI would be his only companion on this mission. Command would bark orders. His support vehicles would lend fire support. But Ecks was with him in body as well as spirit. Ecks controlled the thousands of onboard systems with the sophisticated processors taking up most of the command module volume. But the Colonel didn’t mind the lost space, as these processors were what enabled a human to actually pilot the massive mech.
Some of the candidates had been wary of leaning so heavily on an artificial intelligence. They’d washed out due to such fear. But the Colonel knew the truth. Ecks had his back. Ecks was built for a purpose. To enable human combat instincts. To make humans capable. To make humans better.
To make him better.
T minus 37 seconds
The Colonel smiled as he looked around at the readouts of this glorious machine. It was more than a machine, it was an extension of himself. A trillion dollar marvel of engineering had been built to defend the Earth itself from threats beyond understanding and someone’s bright idea was to entrust it to him.
T minus 30 seconds
He would not fail.
“Heavy Asset 3 you are go for main engine sequence start.”
“Roger main engine sequence start, Command. Main engine sequence started.”
T minus 20 seconds
There was no conversation left to shout over the roar of the engines. Ecks was physically and mentally prepared. The Colonel’s foot no longer tapped.
T minus 10 seconds
“Throttling up main engines!”
9
The world was in danger.
8
Ghorghadra was just the first.
7
The first of many.
6
They threatened his people.
5
His home.
4
The planet Earth..
3
No more.
2
The Monsterpocalypse was underway,
1
And he was going to end it.
Zero.
“Solid booster ignition!”
“We have liftoff,” came over the radio, but he didn’t have time for it.
The pressure. The blackness pressing in on the edges of his sight. He went through the controlled breathing and muscle contractions that had been drilled into him to remain conscious as a massive, controlled explosion propelled him upwards.
Towards the stars.
The literal weight of the world pulled on him, grasped at his mech and tried to haul it back down. He continued his exercises as the pressure built and built and built.
And then there was silence.
He looked at the stars. At the black sky above, and the curved globe below. In this moment, there was no pressure, no battle to come, no weight at all. Just him, and the stars he’d always dreamed of seeing.
“Colonel?” chirped Ecks. Right. There was a battle to be won.
“Begin combat assembly separation!” he replied; focused once again.
“Separation complete, Colonel.”
“Begin controlled descent.” Toward the enemy.
“Descent begun, Colonel. The enemy is aware of our presence.”
“Target the tubby bastard, Ecks. Let’s see if it can break our fall.”
“Roger that Colonel”
“Command, this is Heavy Asset 3, moving to engage. Requesting new callsign.”
“Roger that Colonel, new callsign approved.”
A massive blob of copper and brown stood out on the surface below them; impossibly huge and moving into the city. Gorghadra, their first enemy, had arrived at the battleground. Spreading fear before it in a wave. Well no longer.
“Excellent. Let’s see how these Planet Eaters like battling Defender X!”
Now their enemies would fear them.