Zero Recall (79 page)

Planetary Unit
– Tertiary Overseer

Force – Petty
Overseer

Regiment
(8,100)- Prime Commander - eight-pointed star  (In Planetary Ops, a Prime leads
a single groundteam of 6 hand-picked soldiers, usually all battlemasters or
above.)

Brigade (1800)-
Secondary Commander - seven pointed star  (In Planetary Ops, a Secondary
Commander is otherwise known as a Prime’s ‘Second.’)

Battalion
(900)- Tertiary Commander OR Secondary Commander -six pointed star OR 7-pointed
star

Company (450)-
Small Commander - five-pointed star

Platoon (90)- 
Battlemaster - four-pointed star

Squad (18)-
Squad leader (Squader) - triangle

Groundteam (6)-
Ground Leader  - line

Grounder -
point

A Sneak Peek at The Legend of ZERO 3, Zero’s Return:

The Legend of

ZERO:

Zero’s Return

Chapter 1 –
Twelve-A

This is our future.

Though their bodies were naked,
their minds empty, the fearful, half-mad faces that followed Marie from behind
the bars of their cages were humanity’s hope.

Marie hurried her step.  Despite
almost twenty years on the project, the depraved gazes never ceased to bother
her.

A familiar voice entered her head,
unbidden. 
It will be over soon, Marie.

Marie shuddered, her eyes drawn to the blue-eyed
experiment in the corner cell.  His drip bag had run out again and he was
awake.  Fear clotted her blood as she watched him.  She knew, more than anyone,
that Twelve-A could kill them all, should it ever cross his mind.

The experiment said nothing more,
merely watched her.

Marie hurried through the heavy
doors and entered the lab.  “Twelve-A needs another dose.  He’s awake again.” 
Marie hoped her fear didn’t show.

“Colonel Codgson wants him awake,” the tech, a young
blonde Army lieutenant, said.  The woman gave the holding area a nervous
glance.  “Codgson’s got techs monitoring him, making sure his patterns stay
level—he’s scheduled another demonstration for this afternoon.”

Despite herself, Marie cursed. 
Codgson was a fool.  Ever since he had discovered their prodigy’s unique
talents, Codgson had made every attempt to show him off to the board.  Twelve-A
had been pitted against everything the other labs could throw at him—and had
lived.

“Do you think Twelve-A will survive
this one?”  Lieutenant Carter asked, peering at the experiment through a camera
installed in his cell, face etched with worry.

Marie knew the lieutenant was
partial to the handsome, blue-eyed young man in the last cage on the right. 
She didn’t think of him as a killer.

“He’s survived all the others.” 
Still, Marie felt dread creeping into her soul.  Twelve-A hated the Dark Room. 
What if this time, he decided not to cooperate?  Just the tiniest slip by the
technicians monitoring him and he could wreak destruction on the whole lab.  It
wasn’t worth the risk.

“I know,” Lieutenant Carter said,
eyes fixed on the glass windows of the experiment wing.  “That’s what bothers
me.  He doesn’t like it…it
hurts
him.  What if he doesn’t—”

A male voice behind her interrupted
them.  “We have his DNA.  We can always make another, if he fails to
cooperate.”

Marie stiffened and turned.  The
Colonel stood in the hall, his perfectly crisp blue uniform accenting a bored
demeanor, as if they were talking about cloning rats. 

You don’t have a clue, you
stupid fool,
Marie thought, watching him.

The Colonel caught her gaze and
smiled, a wormlike twisting that chilled her core.  “The first rule of this
project is not to become attached to the subjects, doctor.”

Marie’s anger spiked, as it always
did around the Colonel.  “You shouldn’t leave him awake and unguarded like
that.  Twelve-A could kill us all right now if he wanted to.  He could empty
our minds, make us all stop breathing just like he does in your Dark Room.”

The Colonel snorted.  “I doubt
that.  My techs—”

“—would die too,” Marie interrupted
coldly.  “You’re playing with fire, Colonel.”

The Colonel laughed and rapped
sharply on the thick metal door leading to the containment area.  The sound
diffused with the sheer density of the metal.  The Colonel gave her a smug look. 
“He doesn’t even know we’re here.”

Marie glared, but said nothing.

“If he did,” the Colonel said.  “He
would have killed us a long time ago.”

“You don’t know that,” Marie said. 
“Maybe he doesn’t like to kill.”

The Colonel’s gaze sharpened, as if
he were a hound breeder and she had suggested his dogs didn’t like to hunt.  He
turned to Lieutenant Carter abruptly.  “Collect the experiment and take him to
the Dark Room.  Our visitors are waiting in the observation booth.”

As the tech went to get the necessary
equipment, Marie asked, “What’s he going to fight this time?”

“An experiment from another lab.”

Marie’s lips tightened.  “Twelve-A
represents fifty-two turns of work.  If you want a friendly competition for the
generals’ viewing pleasure, go get one of the Eleven-series to be your
gladiator.  Anything above twelve-series shouldn’t be risked.”

The Colonel gave her a humorless
smile.  “There is nothing friendly about it.  The lab that fails today loses
its funding.  If we lose our funding, every experiment will be killed and our
data destroyed.  We need to win.  That’s why I chose him.”

Marie watched him and saw the
sincerity there.  Softly, she whispered, “They would kill them all?”

The Colonel inclined his head. 
“Now you see why it must be Twelve-A.”

“Why?” she whispered.

The Colonel gave her a long look
before he said, “Congress discovered our intent.  The board hopes we can stall
them for a few years, and the fewer active labs we have, the better our chances
will be.”

“Can’t we combine the labs?” Marie
blurted.  “Throw them all into one building?”

The Colonel shook his head.  “The
genetic lines wouldn’t fight each other if they were kept in the same
building.”

Still hopeful, Marie charged
ahead.  “Then maybe we could use some other means to determine the success of
the experiments.  Something that does not endanger their lives.  There is
evidence that latent brain activity is a clear indicator of—”

“We’re constructing a war,” the
Colonel interrupted.  “The alien Congress will bathe in its own blood before it
realizes it can no longer hold us.  Twelve-A and his kind represent Earth’s
hope for independence, and it will take many of their deaths to see it happen.”

Doggedly, Marie said, “You’ve used
Twelve-A three times in the last month.  Why not Ten-F?”

“You want to place all of their
lives on
her
?”

Marie licked her lips.  Ten-F, though potent, was
insane.  She had fingernail scars down her face from where she’d tried to take
out her own eyes after her final visit to the Dark Room. 

“Colonel,” she began tentatively, “you don’t see
them after their experiences in the Dark Room.  It’s obviously very traumatic
for the minders, and you’ve already used Twelve-A many more times than
regulations allow.  I want you to retire him.  He’s too valuable to the project
for any more games.”

The Colonel’s eyes narrowed.  “This is not a game.” 
Marie started to retort, but he cut her off.  “Go find out what’s taking
Lieutenant Carter so long.  I told them noon sharp.”  The Colonel’s mouth
twisted in irritation when he glanced at his big gold wristwatch.  “We’re two
minutes behind already.”  He strode off in the direction of the Dark Room, hard
black boot-heels reverberating on the white tile as he departed.

Frustrated, Marie went looking for Carter. 

Ten minutes later, she found the lieutenant slumped
on the floor of the containment corridor outside Twelve-A’s cage, the
behavioral adaptor still clasped in her hand.

“You
killed
her?!” Marie cried, jogging up to
kneel beside her.

Dr. Carter had a pulse.  Relieved, Marie turned on
the experiment.

Cold blue eyes met her stare, unwavering.  Twelve-A
was only two feet away, squatting naked in front of the bars, watching her.  He
was angry.

I’m not fighting.

Marie stumbled away from him.  She began to reach
for the behavioral adaptor, then froze when she saw him following her motions
with his eyes.  Twelve-A knew what she was thinking.  He’d never let her use
it.

Tentatively, Marie retracted her hand.  “You need to
fight.  If our lab fails this match, they’ll all die.”  Eyes still fixed on
him, she motioned to the other experiments.

Twelve-A’s eyes flickered toward the others, then
back at her. 
They’re miserable.  You treat them like animals.  They’re
better off dead.

In that moment, Marie realized that Twelve-A could
not only kill her and her comrades, but he could also kill his own kind.

“No!”  After twenty years of living her work, the
experiments were Marie’s children.  At the thought of losing them, she almost
forgot the history of the man in front of her.  She reached through the bars to
touch his knee.  “Things will get better, Twelve-A.”

He recoiled, drawing deeper into his cell before she
could reach him. 
You can’t lie to me.
 

“I’m not.”  Marie held his eyes.  “Just once more. 
I’ll make sure you won’t have to do it again.”

Twelve-A glanced to the side, away from her, pain
etched in his young face.  For long moments, he said nothing.  Then,
Take me
to the Dark Room.

Marie glanced down at the unconscious lieutenant,
then at the experiment.  She left the behavioral adapter on the floor.

#

“Watch closely,” Colonel Codgson said, addressing
the visitors.  “See how he paces?  Our experiments show an innate aggression…a
drive to fight.  He’s anticipating the kill.”

Marie watched with her back to the Colonel,
recognizing Twelve-A’s pacing for what it was—anger.

“Is the experiment contained?” one of the visitors
demanded.  A nasal, gray-haired woman pointed at the large observation station
in the corner, indicating the two technicians monitoring it.  “Are they all
that stand between us and that monster?”

In the Dark Room, Twelve-A stopped and gave the
observation booth a small frown before continuing to pace.  The others did not
notice, but Marie’s heart clenched.

He knows we’re here,
she thought, horrified. 
And he’s listening.

“We’re in no danger,” Colonel Codgson replied.  “The
walls are a foot and a half of lead-ceramic composite.  Even the windows are
leaded.  His abilities cannot penetrate.”

“Has this been proven?”

“Beyond a doubt,” Colonel Codgson replied.

On the other side of the glass, the Dark Room doors
opened and a second experiment, a naked redheaded woman, was thrust inside.

The fight ended as swiftly and undramatically as
they always did with Twelve-A.  He simply walked up to the other experiment,
gently took her trembling chin into his hands, touched his forehead to hers,
and his opponent collapsed.

“Amazing,” the nasal woman said, though she did not
sound very amazed.  “That’s it?  Why didn’t they fight?”

“No one can fight Twelve-A,” Colonel Codgson said,
pride seeping through his voice.  “He is our finest creation.”

Again, Marie thought she saw Twelve-A glance in
their direction, but an embarrassed-looking Lieutenant Carter was already
leading the experiment from the room, her fist wrapped tightly around her
portable behavioral adaptor.  The moment Twelve-A looked at her, she twisted
the dial and made him scream.

As Marie watched the other technicians rush in to
help Carter carry the experiment from the room, she felt undefinable sadness. 
The Lieutenant’s good will had officially ended.

She and I were his only two friends in this
place.

Afterwards, Colonel Codgson hosted a celebration to
commemorate their continued research, but Marie could not stay.  She left the
restaurant and drove back to the lab, thinking about the look of anguish she’d
seen on Twelve-A’s face as Carter and the others had prodded the whimpering
telepath back to his cell and re-attached the driplines.

Even though she got chills thinking of it, Marie
wanted to see him.  Console him.

When she got there, the lab was cold and dark. 
Marie flicked on the lights and moved to the holding area, swiping her card and
pushed one of the thick leaden doors open.  Inside, a sixth of the lights
remained permanently on, more for the technicians’ comfort than the experiments’—no
one wanted to be alone in the dark with the monsters they had created.

Somewhere, near the back of the room, Marie heard
crying.

Though she carried no restraining devices, had
followed none of the pre-entry monitoring protocol, Marie stepped inside the
corridor.

“Hello?” she whispered.

Though she knew her words had not been loud enough
to carry beyond her own ears, the sobbing cut off instantly.

Cold prickles crawled across Marie’s arms and back. 
It was Twelve-A.  He hadn’t been drugged.  She had
seen
him get drugged.

Had Lieutenant Carter forgotten to refill the bag? 
Or had Twelve-A made her forget?

The idea was terrifying.  Marie knew right then she
should scurry back behind the protective leaden walls and wait for assistance.

And yet, she found herself rooted to the place,
unable to leave.  Guilt welled in her gut like a moldy sack, weighing on her
soul.

They don’t deserve this,
she thought, eying
the other experiments in their beds.  All slept, either naturally or by drugs,
splayed out in naked disregard like animals.