1 Prologue - First day in Chicago

We have never known for sure if it there are other sorts of forms of living beings outside of the very planet we are living in. Indeed, attempts on discovering other planets besides the earth have even been begun since the prehistoric times, and yet we are still nowhere near a valid confirmation regarding the existence of living beings anywhere on the outer space.

Well, everything changed forever after what happened by the end of the year 2032. To be more precise, it was on the night of December 29th. The whole world always thought that since we had never received any signs of living beings from outer space, it must have also meant that we would never have any possible threats of extraterrestrial attack.

We were wrong…

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Before I continue, let me introduce myself. My name is Travis Burners. I was born in Chicago, Illinois, but moved to San Francisco since I was nine. It is not hard for people to guess that I am Italian–American, and once they meet me, it will be easy for them to look for me since I am a 5'8.5 young man with a pointed nose who wears horn rim eyeglasses.

I graduated high school when I was seventeen, and I applied to the United States Navy right after my graduation from a public university with a Bachelor Degree in Naval Engineering. Recently in this year, I received a Silver Star Medal award due to my contributions in collaborating with the coast guard in thwarting several sea smuggling activities.

By the end of the year, I received the order to transfer my station to the Chicago Military Academy Base to assist the basic training of the newly enrolled military cadets – especially Navy at least for the next six months.

It has been about four hours in my transport vehicle and I finally arrived at the base. I stepped outside from the truck, stretched my legs a bit, and took a brief look upon the base before looking at my watch – showing the time 4:10 pm and date December 29th 2032.

"Sir," said one of the guards at the gate, "May I see your ID, and permit entry letter please?"

"Yes, of course." I said as I handed him my ID and letter.

"Okay, you are clear to enter. Welcome to the Chicago Military Academy Base." He said after he finished checking my ID and letter.

It was not until about five minutes of driving from the gate that I was finally able to look at the overall facility.

On my way to the main building, I took out the overall map of the facility given to me the day before my departure to the facility. Based on the map, this base had 3 main ports – one in the northern part of this base, and the other two in the eastern part with all of which currently stationing three military hovercraft.

All of the ports were directly facing to the Illinois Great Lakes. The main building was located in the northeastern part of this base and was divided into three wings – the western wing, the central wing, and the eastern wing.

The western wing was where the cadets receive their theoretical training, as well as where the library was. The central wing was comprised of the officials' offices, cafeteria, and communications center. The eastern wing was where the cadets receive their field training, the location of the armory, as well as where the performance, research and development laboratory was.

To the south of the western wing, was the cadets' barracks, and to the south of the central wing, was the officials' barracks. It took me about fifteen minutes from the gate to the central wing, and when I finally arrived, I was already quite worn off. I also did not see nor hear any cadets training along my way to the central wing from inside the truck, which probably had something to do with the limitations in physical exercising since it was indeed in the winter.

When I entered the lobby of the central wing, I was quite surprised by how sophisticated the technology used there despite the outer appearance of the main building – instead of a standard working clock, the current time was shown through a blue-colored hologram projected from the device attached on the center of the lobby ceiling.

A notification regarding any news was also shown right under the current time on the same hologram, and the floor was programmed so that when a registered official swiped his or her card, the floor would show arrows guiding him or her towards the chosen or ordered destination, providing that they swipe their own card and they wear their facility glasses.

"It is rare to see an official inside this building at this hour who does not wear any arrow glasses," said a middle-aged man with a gentle-toned voice from my left side.

"And yet since you managed to enter this building, you must be Ensign Travis Burners. I have been expecting your arrival. I am Captain Quentin."

"Good afternoon, sir. Ensign Burners reporting for duty." I responded whilst giving the salute gesture and holding on to my fatigue.

"At ease, son." He replied and responded my gesture. "Now, since you had a tedious journey here, I will now show you your office, and some necessary places for you tomorrow."

The first place Captain Quentin showed me was my office. It was located inside the officials' office on the second floor of the central wing in the main building. The next place he showed me was the cafeteria, which was located a bit to the west from the lobby of the central wing.

Based from what I saw, the foods here looked more edible than the ones I had back in my cadet days. Since it was already almost in the evening, Captain Quentin brought me to several classrooms in the western wing, and finally to the officials' barracks.

"I guess that is all that I can show to you for now, Ensign. In about half an hour, it will be dinner time in the cafeteria. I expect you to be there, son." He said whilst handing me an arrow glasses. "Don't worry, it has been adjusted based on your nearsighted eyes."

"Yes sir, I will be there." I replied as I received the glasses from him.

The man left, and without any means to waste my time, I immediately put my bag right beside the bed with a written tag 'ENS Burners', and as I sat on my bed, I took a brief look to my watch again which showed the time 06:58 pm.

"Time flies so fast today." I sighed, before relaxing myself.

After about five minutes of sitting and relaxing myself on the new bed, I took another clothes and went to the showering room which is located just fifteen feet right in front of my bed. When I finished showering, it was already 07:20 pm, just the right time to have dinner in the cafeteria, and so I went there.