Man Of Systems

Chapter 1: A Century’s Research

[Emergency! Security breach! I repeat, security…]

Boom!

Sirens honked while flames blazed among the white-walled research institute. Three research assistants, wearing spacesuits, ran across the corridor, the low gravity of the planet troubling them in this situation.

“Section Commander, the Garracks have breached the northern base.” One of the research assistants hollered across the radio, one whose signal spiked in static until the transmission was deemed impossible.

“Get to safety.” Wearing a battlesuit that shone with a resplendent blue was a middle-aged man, a hardened soldier, the Section Commander that was in charge of the research facility’s safety. His battlesuit covered him from head to toe, not even revealing a hint of his features, protecting him against the radiation unleashed by the enemies.

“The nightmare has reached us in the end,” He sighed, turning around to see the three research assistants running about, travelling like snails in his eyes. He then took a step forward as his figure flashed, unaffected by the gravity.

The air around him pulsed, propelling him through the corridor as he passed through the sea of flames, arriving at the northern base of their research facility, noticing dozens of corpses on the ground.

Humans, their donned battlesuit had been ripped apart brutally, with their bodies exposed to radiation, rotting as the cells in them had died. Standing in their midst were a couple of aliens, casually stomping the head of a struggling human.

Upon seeing the scene, the Section Commander gritted his teeth, muttered under his breath with a baleful grunt, “…Garracks!”

The air behind him flickered as thermal waves pulsed out of his body, instantly propelling him towards the two Garracks. He extended his hands, condensing a plasma sword on each, holding them rigidly as he passed right by the aliens that failed to react on time.

There was a screech following his wake as a thin blue line formed on the bodies of both the Garracks, followed by them melting into a puddle immediately under the condensed heat in his plasma blades.

Upon killing the two Garracks effortlessly, the Section Commanded was confused, “Strange, it’s impossible for such weak Garracks to massacre my soldiers.”

Boom!

The sound of missiles blasting interrupted his train of thought, causing him to rush out of the research facility to see what type of foe they were facing, “If only our signals weren’t cut off.”

“Dammit!”

Exiting the building, the Section Commander was just about to unleash his attack onto a group of Garracks, that he spotted, when his actions came to a pause. He tilted his head, gazing upwards, watching dozens of missiles skate through the air and slam into a hill-sized creature.

Kaboom!

The sea of flames spread everywhere, also enveloping the Section Commander. But, he was unaffected by the heat, sporting an ashen face as he gazed at the scene, stupefied. His mouth opened, trembling, uttering in shock, “T-Type-8?”

Flashing through the sea of flames, with their bodies burning were the group of Garracks, pouncing upon the Section Commander. A thin blue membrane enveloped him, with its temperatures turning the surroundings into lava, instantly melting the bodies of the Garracks that crashed into him.

But, despite the level of strength he possessed, despair was his only expression, watching the hill-like creature snap its finger once, producing a mild shockwave.

By the time the Section Commander managed to react, he was squished into 2-D art. His last thought process wasn’t of his life, but of the secret he had sworn to protect.

‘Humanity spent more than a century on this project. It shouldn’t fall into the hands of the Garracks.’

‘Ahh, I hope my death wasted a couple of seconds of the Type-8 Garrack’s attention.’

“Quick, activate the warp beacon. Set up the coordinates!” A man sporting a cropped beard shouted. Like every researcher, he too wore a spacesuit to protect himself from the atmospheric radiation of the planet they were on.

He hurriedly punched the keys on a large panel, causing countless mechanical arms to be actuated, arranging things in order as they plugged in many electrical charges into a cylindrical mechanism.

“Coordinates set to Keppler. Beginning warp in 3…2…” A nearby senior researcher had begun the countdown, watching energy accumulate into the cylindrical mechanism when a shockwave coursed through the place, destroying most of the setup, causing the warp to fail.

The bodies of the researchers exploded one after another.

“Guh!” Grunting in response, the senior researcher pried open his damaged spacesuit, coughing out blood as he dragged himself, arriving before the broken panel, tapping on a key when he noticed that they had lost all power.

“Fuck!” He shouted in anger, on the verge of tears, gazing at the tiny instrument situated above the broken cylindrical mechanism. It was shaped like a coin, constantly flickering with waves of blue light. It was the project they had been working on for more than a century, humanity’s hope.

But now, they lost their only means to warp it someplace safe, “Dammit!”

“Ralph!” A feminine voice broke him out of his stupor as the senior researcher addressed Ralph rushed towards the source of the sound, noticing a hand peeking out of rubble formed by the ceiling’s collapse.

He grunted, veins popping on his arms, lifting the rubble when the female underneath slid out, ripping apart her tattered spacesuit, groaning as she got up in a hurry, “We don’t have time. Actuate the warp mechanism again!”

“We’ve lost all power, Stella.” Ralph gritted his teeth, despair evident in his expression as he looked around, noticing that pretty much every other researcher had burst into a mist of blood from the shockwave.

“No! The System still has an internal warp feature. We should be able to use that.” Stella replied, ignoring the bleeding from her severed left hand as she hurried towards the cylindrical mechanism. “Activate the System! We must ensure it never falls into the hands of the Garracks.”

“Fine,” Ralph moved, coughing out blood from time to time as his body soaked up the abundant radiation, beginning to turn beet red before he began to bleed from many locations.

He looked around, grabbing a couple of energy cells that he placed atop the cylindrical mechanism, making them touch the coin when his hands shone with a blue radiance, emitting blinding waves of plasma. The energy cells absorbed his plasma and powered up the coin.

A couple of seconds later, the coin lit up with a blinding radiance, hovering in the air as a resonant sound echoed through the research facility and beyond, spreading throughout the desolate planet.

The hill-like entity swerved its head, sensing a powerful energy fluctuation from the centre of the research institute. Its body flickered, approaching the source.

Ding!

Hearing the resonant sound, Stella placed her severed arm on the coin, shouting, “System! Activate Master Key! Bond with me!”

<Ding!>

Another sonorous sound resounded as a mechanical voice responded.

[Master Key Activated! Bonding with the user: Stella Ralph!]

[Host, state your command.]

“Activate your warp sequence!” Stella shouted, coughing out blood as her legs fell off, destroyed due to radiation poisoning. She grunted, using her hand to prevent her jaw from falling off next, saying with every fiber of her being, “This is my command! Bond with the human that possesses the closest genetic sequence to me.”

<Ding!>

[Command Received! Command acceptable under the logical algorithm of the System. Beginning to warp.]

[Take care, Stella Ralph!]

“Haa…haha, hahaha!” Seeing the coin vanish instantly, Stella was glad as she turned around, “We did it, Ralph. It’s a success…Ralph?”

Tears streamed out of her eyes as she saw the figure of Ralph, her husband. He was on the ground, dead, skin peeled off due to the radiation. Faint energy waves emanated from his body, surrounding Stella, having been shielding her from the radiation until now, buying her enough time to finish warping the System away.

Boom!

The ceiling was vaporized as the hill-like creature flashed into existence, gazing at the cylindrical mechanism, squinting its numerous eyes to see that it was empty. Its gaze then hovered above Stella.

“Take that, fucker! We completed our mission!” Stella grinned as her flesh fell off as patches, unable to handle the radiation emanating from the hill-like creature. She dropped dead almost immediately.

The hill-like creature gazed around, no longer able to sense the energy fluctuation from before, turning around as it walked away. And in its wake, the entire research facility vaporized.

It then took flight, leaving the planet’s atmosphere, observing the planet’s vital signals for a couple of seconds before snapping its finger.

Followed by a rumble, the planet began to collapse as a miniature black hole appeared in its core, swallowing it in its entirety.

Seeing the scene, the hill-like creature turned around and vanished into the depths of space.

…

“I’ll only become a terrain expert in the military. I won’t be a soldier, aunt.” A boy in his teens, sporting an androgynous face talked with a flushed face, shouting as the nerves in his throat protruded alarmingly, “I won’t be risking my life!”

“No means NO!” The lady opposite him sported an expression of anger, snorting as she said, “Return to your room. No matter how you plead, I’ll never allow you to throw your life away. With your weak physique, forget joining the military. You cannot even run to the nearby shop without fainting in the process.”

She then sighed, stating with a gentle tone, “Rael, my child. Your mother entrusted your wellbeing to me before embarking on a dangerous mission. So, please don’t make things difficult for your aunt here, alright?”

“Tch!” The teenager addressed as Rael clicked his tongue and rushed into his room, slamming the door shut upon entry.

Even before the door was slammed shut, his aunt already had her hands over her ears, gazing at the shut door, her previous gentle expression had vanished.

She then walked towards the living room and slumped on the sofa, “Finally, he stopped his tantrum. It’s getting worse these days. Ahh, this is seriously irritating me a lot.”

“Just leave him to his devices.” Seated near her, calmly sipping his coffee as if the previous argument was unrelated to him was her husband, a man sharing an uncanny resemblance to Ralph. He surfed through the internet, stating calmly, “Once he tries to enroll into the military, he would be rejected anyway. Who would enroll his weak ass?”

“That’s the problem!” The aunt flared up immediately before controlling her voice, glancing at the door to Rael’s room before saying, “Irrespective of their health condition, the military would accept anyone that applies. But, their screening test has a high fatality rate. If he dies, we can forget about receiving monetary support from his mother.”

“Annoying,” Her husband snorted, continuing to browse through his mobile.

‘This imbecile!’ The lady glared at his figure before letting out a long sigh, relaxing on the sofa as she switched on the television, intending to watch some news until her children returned from school.

[Breaking News! The Outpost R-43, codenamed Mosaic fell under an invasion of the Garracks. Experts have launched an investigation, but in the coordinates of Mosaic now exists a miniature black hole, with what seems to be the debris of Mosaic swirling around it in orbit.]

The same news was being telecasted on the news in a loop, showing scenes of the Outpost planet that was captured after the incident. The news anchor continued to speak with a placid expression, numb to everything she stated.

And scrolling in a row at the bottom of the screen were the names of the deceased. The lady was only casually looking through the news, sighing, “Another Outpost fell to the Garracks. Sheesh, what the heck is the Federation doing? Just a waste of our tax…”

Her words were cut short as her mouth was agape, her eyes glued to the screen. She pinched herself to see whether it was a dream or reality before slapping her husband all of a sudden.

“You DAMNED bii…” Her husband yelled in anger when the lady pulled him closer to the television, pointing at the names that flashed past. He only managed to catch the last word that she showed but that instantly dispelled his anger.

The two then patiently watched the screen, their eyes widening as the names they were looking for looped again.

[Ralph Rukh]

[Stella Rukh]

“Dead, both of them are dead.” He muttered, shocked, partially distressed, but mostly relieved.

As for the lady, she was deep in thought before her eyes shot towards Rael’s room, whispering to her husband, “With them dead, Rael would inherit their wealth. We shouldn’t let him out of our grasp, no matter what.”