Story [Issue 13] A Bright Beginning

[SpreadLoveNotHate 374]

 

*Pew* The strange noise has awaken me to a sight of pure light and energy. Struggling to see through the small openings of my eyelids, the sudden glow of light turned the atmosphere inside bright, and then back into darkness as if I were asleep once again. I find myself sleeping on the blueprints of the future weapons. Soaked in saliva, the ink is seeping through to the corners of the page. More than 20 hours of work disappearing in front of me, I slightly weep as I hear rain dropping onto the cold hard pavements outside our test facility. Once again, a streak of light shot across the room. This time, I felt its full velocity and had put me off my chair. As my blinded eyes start to clear up again, I see flashes of lightning that light up the room. More than 20 colleagues were all up and around this dull, big, stick of metal connected to a generator. My curiosity picks me up off my feet as I find myself being attracted towards the dull unattractive metal. One of my fellow colleagues welcomes me back into the group as he introduces the gang's new toy to me. I get escorted into the middle of the group, the rest huddle around me. The metal was shaped as a stick, with a couple of holes in it, attached to a small box at the end of one side of the metal rod. I realize that this was one of my blueprints, the focus of our crew for the past couple of months. Before my nap, the idea was still in the blueprint process, and now, I see the realized dream.

The original blueprint carried the idea of having a concentrated beam of light, at all of its power in one single color. This ensures that the beam would be as powerful as it can be, with only have one certain wavelength. I go back to find the blueprint originally on my desk. There is nothing at all, just my regular stationary, soaking blueprints, and my little spinning top that reminds me of my family at home. I spin the top with my stiff fingers, and slowly walk back to where my colleagues were working. The top of the box connected to the rail-shaped metal tube was open, while our best scientist was tweaking the inside with a screwdriver and a pair of tweezers. I stand there for quite a while watching. No, it wasn't because I was interested, the small candlelight beside the scientist was all there was for us to navigate the room.  Once again, the scientist nods and gives a go for another test fire. A couple inch thick sheet of metal was placed on a stool where the tube was pointed. Once again, the light burned my eyes as I failed to look away, and after the shadows in my eyes dimmed, I saw a three inch hole through the metal. Chatter broke up as well as the interest in the weapon as the group scattered. The weapon testing was done and ready for the field.

My director tells me to go back to where I usually slept, in the corner, and rest myself. Usually, a weapon that's finished testing stages gets equipped onto the current tanks as the tankers get training on how to use them in recruit battles. Those battles require less skill, and helps them learn the basics of the weapon. I ponder over my continuation of life as a tanker, and how my dreams were finally realized. I have always been a scientist before the war, and the years of preparation have made me who I am today. It all goes back to the day the build of the rail began. My eyes became watery, and my open mouth quickly turned in a yawn. I fall asleep once again, but my thoughts trailed on and transformed into the form of a dream. It took me back to the day I joined the scientists on the new weapon project. It was to create a weapon that could take out more than one tank at once, maximizing time and effort. The physics was simple, but resources and time was limited since the war had already started. We needed to get this going, and fast to ensure that our front will not be lost. Earlier, I talked with our commander, and he promised to let me test the new weapon on the battlefield, after a couple of days of desperate begging. I was excited, and I certainly felt that I was no longer out of place from this foreign group of nerds. For once after my parents' death, I felt the indescribable feeling of having a family.

I wake up, I glance at my clock as it shows that the sun has yet to rise. There is something about today that I felt is special, it is the morning where testing on the battlefield was planned. I am excited, beyond description. I get up with a slight struggle, and there on my desk, the top continues its rotation. But the thought only lasted seconds as I walk past it to get ready for our trip. This is a training battle, though real, it was a slightly simpler objective, and we are quickly briefed in another department by the General. Objectives were simple, to raid the shoreline outside of a city named Magadon. This is a surprise attack, and we should be able to plow through their little defences quickly. There were little defences, and it was still early in the morning. We made our way to the garage, and we drive our hornets equipped with the new gun carefully out of the small opening. We were told this morning it has been named Railgun M0 prototype. I leap into my tank through the top lid. It's already personalized with all of my personal belongings, water, a picture of my beloved child at home, and also my key chain that my son made for me on my 40th birthday. I keep it with me everywhere I go, as it gives me all I have left of a purpose in life. I attempt to focus back into my current task, when my transponder gave out an enemy signal. It was quite a few miles ahead, and we are told our rails had unlimited distance, so it should not be a problem. 7 other tankers and I move into a predefined formation and we advance forward. Seconds later after advancing, we were receiving heavy fire by enemy Smokies, and in a desperate attempt to save the other tankers, I stepped in front of the middle tanker, and became his shield. It didn't last very long, as my tank's armor weakened to a point where it could no longer hold fire. Fighting to fend off the Smokies, I try shooting the sides of their tanks to make them lose aim. It was my last hope to make them run, or I would have to face consequences to my heroic but dangerous behaviors. Amazingly, the Smoky that was shooting me blew up. The rail had proven its usefulness, but that didn't last very long. Another enemy tank filled the Smoky's place and had done the final blow to my tank. I heard a loud explosion from the engine, and just sat tight to hope for the best. That' mostly what we have to do on the battlefield. Then another blast occurred and I plummet into a state of complete darkness...I was...dead?

No, everything around me was dark. And then there was light at the end of the tunnel, the dark place I was in, there was an exit. I get to there as fast as I can, only to find that I wake up to sitting inside my tank. I look at the clock, only to see that it was a couple of hours ago. Before the fighting started. I still remember everything had happened before and during the battlefield scene. But why am I back here, was it even just a dream? I grab my headset and ask my friends who are in my battalion, the only thing they thought was that I was losing my mind. No matter how many times I've said in the couple of minutes of preparation, they just ignored me and started mentally preparing for what happened. Why is time rewinded? Another million questions popped into my head, most of which I can only use imagination to answer. I hopelessly decide to go along with things and see what would happen. It was just like another broken audio recording, but in real life. What I suddenly realize was that there is nothing I can do. Nothing. So, I decide to play along with it, and everything that happened before happened again. We arrived in the battlefield, and this time, I was careful not enough to be killed, but it was fate that decided my second death a few seconds after dodging the first repeated attack. The Smoky critical hits me, and my tank is once again gone. At that moment, everything just rewinds, and this time, I caught the sight of the whole split-second rewind showing what had happened previously and in no time, it is the same again. The feeling of death haunts me for the second time. I decide to step out of my tank. It was enough for today, even though today had barely started, and I left to find a quiet place and catch my breath. I am panting even though I was sitting for the whole time. My adrenaline was indescribably high  and the near death experiences put me in a state of shock. I think as hard as I can, and then, I remember something, it was a clicking sound every time before I died. It was as if it predicted what would happen, and clicked to put me back in time. It sounded distant, I try to find the source by using rethinking what had happened, and all I saw was a little button of light from the corner of a far wall. It was flashing everytime a click had happened. Of course, I would like to relive some moments over again, but this is not one of those. If only I could perfect my moves and kill the device, I could maybe free myself of this wretched curse, and get my life back. All I need is some more rail training and some luck. I pray, and then walk off to talk to my leader about the hideously ridiculous plan.

To Be Continued...

 

Edited July 31, 2017 by Hexed

[UAA619 97]

Good article. I didn't notice that this article was there... I just happened to randomely click on it today...

[r_flae90 28]

Interesting story :D

Can't wait to see what happens next

[r_The-Player20 313]

darkness hurts eyes

[Arrow 105]

Nice article *-*

[donut70 97]

I am a bit confused .

[red_tank_the_best 300]

Me too.

[Eragon 13,876]

Me too.

your not the only one