Rotations

A young woman wearing a lab coat with dark hair approached the recruits.

"Hello, I'm Junior Research Assistant Amber Louding. I'll give you a general explanation of what we do here at Project Ursang.

According to common knowledge, demon beasts have three primary uses, beast taming, beast cores for weapons, and synthesis. Tamed demon beasts are helpful on the battlefield, in medical procedures, in gathering medicinal plants, in pharmacology, and so on. These are partner relationships between beast tamers and their beasts.

When demon beasts reach a certain level, they develop a demon beast core or beast core. These cores give unique attributes to weapons and various military and non-military equipment.

Finally, synthesis is when beast tamers and their beasts can temporarily form a unified human/beast hybrid body. These are known as Beast Soldiers. The more gifted a beast soldier, the more beasts he can synthesize with at a given time.

Unfortunately, Beast Soldiers are rare, and it's a one-in-a-million chance that a beast soldier is capable of synthesis. We're not entirely sure why some beast tamers can become Beast Soldiers while others cannot. So we're looking to create Beast Soldiers on a grand scale. The first step in that plan is to create a group of "artificial" Beast Soldiers. We call those new soldiers Ursang. It's a Sumerian word meaning warrior.

This entire building aims to create the Ursang, which is why we call this Project Ursang. By the way, if you breathe a word of what we do here, you will be executed without court or investigation.

There are twelve primary focuses of research called divisions. Each research division has a Division leader. They or their assistants will give you orders. Follow those orders without question. Your status is trainee assistants. You are expected to learn research techniques, administrative functions, and relevant scientific knowledge for each division you serve.

A warning that few of my colleagues heeded when I was a trainee assistant, if you fail to comply with orders or prove useless, it's straight to the frontline. The front of the frontline, if you get me. During boot camp, each person will spend two weeks per division.

Once a complete rotation by all twelve has been made, we will give you a permanent spot in the division that best suits your talents. You will stay in this position through the remainder of boot camp, which lasts a year. Afterward, we will assign a long-term posting to the Project if you perform according to expectations."

Without waiting for questions, Louding assigned everyone to their division. Deven was assigned to the Bloodline Analysis Division.

The apprentices were dismissed and would return the next day. As the apprentices left, Deven approached Amber Louding for a quick chat. The others watched as she left for a few moments and then returned with what appeared to be a few cards. After receiving the cards, Deven approached the others and handed one card to each person. The cards were only 3" X 5".

"I'll explain what these are for later. But, for now, everyone, return to the barracks." Unsure of what he was doing, the men shrugged their shoulders and left. The women were confused but finally left. Deven approached one of the women and leaned near her.

"Excuse me, please hang back a bit; I want to talk with you." The young woman with red hair looked surprised but did as he requested. No one noticed at first that Deven and the young woman were not with them.

"Hello, I'm Deven West, and you are?" Deven put out his hand for a cordial introduction.

"Mayva Stevens." The young woman responded while shaking Deven's hand.

"Mayva, I think you and I should work together to ensure the success of our barracks. What do you say?"

"I guess you should tell me how we can do that."

Mayva and Deven spoke as they walked. When they reached the barracks, it was already one in the afternoon. The sun was blazing overhead. A couple of the girls were waiting outside the barracks and looked relieved when they saw Mayva. As they approached the barracks, Deven nodded to Mayva and finished the discussion.

"This will greatly help all of us; thank you, Mayva." Mayva nodded her head and brought the two girls with her.

When Deven entered the men's barrack, he noticed everyone sitting with a tv tray in front of them with a box on top. Based on the smell, Deven understood it was dinner. The others were waiting for him.

"Great work today; let's have dinner, and we'll talk after." Deven smiled and sat on his locker. The mini table was set, and his food was waiting. As they ate, most of them chatted with one another. Deven sat quietly, eating his food. When they finished, Carlos gathered the boxes while Mike wiped down the tables and stored them. The others focused on cleaning the barracks.

When Carlos returned from returning the boxes to the mess hall, he immediately helped with cleaning. Even Deven worked with everyone and cleaned the bathroom. Within forty minutes, the barracks looked even cleaner than when they entered yesterday.

"Good work, everyone. Come over here, and I'll tell you what is happening."

The men gathered around Deven; each wore their curiosity plainly on their faces.

"Are you worried?" Deven asked. He silently gazed at each person.

"Worried?" Mike asked.

"Yes, didn't you notice the kind of situation we're in, Mike? There is an excellent opportunity for us to work here. But, there is also a great danger.

"What danger," Carlos asked. Deven looked at Jylan.

"The danger is that they will put us in the front if we don't meet expectations. With a survivability rate of approximately 41% with other recruits, that's gambling with your lives. Ms. Louding even threatened that we might be put at the front of the front lines where the chance of survival is closer to 12%. So if we don't do well and are kicked out, it's like a death sentence."

"Why would they do that?" This time it was Dax who asked the question.

"Deadmen tell no tales," Oliver said flatly.

"What?"

"We can't spill any secrets if we aren't alive," Jylan commented. The others thought carefully about Jylan and Oliver's comments.

"Worried?" Deven asked once more. This time no one was confused. Instead, they looked to Deven, hoping he had a way to secure their place in the Project.

"Take out the cards I gave you earlier." Some men returned to their bed and removed the card from their locker. Once everyone had their cards, Deven continued.

"Each day, we will write a one-paragraph summary of our experiences in each division on our card. These cards are connected to a secure network. The information on the cards will be available for each of us to examine. Once you have reviewed the material, the contents will no longer be available."

"You mean we can write notes to each other with these cards?" Dax asked.

"Yes, but I wouldn't write any love letters or anything. The network administrators review everything written on the cards. We were permitted to do this to understand the research better and faster. This will also help us work together to create strategies that will help us remain as long-term research assistants."

"Even the women are doing this?" Jylan asked.

"Yes, Mayva, the female barracks leader, is having a similar discussion with her people. We need to work together if we want to survive. Any questions?"

"Yeah, who exactly put you in charge?" Dax stood out from the others and asked aggressively.