Preparing for War

Morning came and the mech was now covered up in an overnight cover with simple scaffolding and tarps tied together. It was also still being barraged with many tools in a folly attempt to take it apart.

Anna was searching for some kind of cafeteria after crying for most of the night. She was a bit dehydrated and needed something to eat. The sound of hustle and bustle caught her ear and she followed it until she found what she was looking for. The smell of food made her stomach growl. She hadn't eaten since lunchtime yesterday. The cafeteria was filled with military, scientific, and civilian personnel.

"Hey! It's her!" A random voice announced over the crowd. With few exceptions, the noise in the large room went silent. All eyes were on her. It felt unnecessary for so much attention to be on her when all she did was take a joy ride with an enemy artificial intelligence. Anna spotted the food line and started toward it. A little girl of about six or seven years old walked into the line of her path.

"Are you an ayleeum?" The girl asked. Everyone in the room remained silent as if they were all awaiting her answer. The question was so preposterous and the child's face looked so serious that Anna couldn't help but chuckle before she answered.

"Heh. No. I lived here on the base with my father. One hundred percent Earthborn and raised."

"Darn," The little girl responded. "I wanted ta meet an ayleeum." She then stomped away. A few people laughed at the innocent notion. More people started talking and the room seemed to mostly forget about Anna's presence. One woman got in line right behind Anna and kept staring. As soon as they both had trays and were starting to make food selections, she spoke up.

"So... What was it like? Piloting that mecha, I mean. Was it hard? Easy? Is... is that from piloting?" Anna looked at her and she pointed at the right side of her head behind the ear. Anna reached up to that same spot under her ear and felt something new. Some hair was missing and she could feel some metal and some kind of opening for a plug.

"Yes. This is the neural interface-face chip that was installed. It allows me to keep in communication with you at a distance. But more important-tantly, it takes no less than 1/1000th of a nanosecond for data to transfer between your br-brain and the mech. That reduces erro-erroneous movement by 999.99%. When you were fighting yesterday, it felt as though you could tell the future, didn't-n't it?" The A.I. asked inside of Anna's head.

"Y-yes..." She answered out loud. As her hand lowered, she realized that she had a permanent connection to the A.I. which made her feel disappointed. She felt like it was almost over, but the truth was that nothing was over. Not by a long shot.

"Yes, what? It was hard to pilot? I knew it! I once had this simul..." The woman kept talking as if Anna was paying attention, but her sole focus was the digital voice in her head.

"My Moo-Moon. I don't think this is the best place to stay-ay. While some of the humans on this base have the right intentions, the ones in charge are only interested in further-ering themselves in the face of oblit-obliteration. I have been in contact with a group of people who are much more suited to helping defend the planet when reinforcements inevitably return."

"I don't care right now. Let me eat in peace." Anna stated coldly.

"Oh... Okay. Sorry to bother you."

"Understood, My Moon." The woman and A.I. responded at the same time.

Anna returned to her room and forced herself to eat some of the food in the hopes that some of the hunger pangs would subside.

She spent some time searching her soul. The pain of loss and the anger at the invaders were pulling the strings of her heart in opposite directions. She wanted to just sleep and not do anything. At the same time, she wanted to stand up and fight. Her instincts were screaming, telling her to lay down. It's not like she could ever really do anything. There were better people out there for the job. She felt inconsequential.

"Anna..." The voice of her father roused her. "Anna, Do you remember the last time we both saw your mother?"

Anna sat up on her bed. Her father was just standing in the doorway as casual as can be. As much as she wanted to run up and hug him, it was like her body refused to move.

"Mom? Y-yeah. That was on your anniversary. A week before the rapture. You had a big fight, didn't you?"

"We did." He continued. Hearing his voice was so soothing to Anna. "We never made up. But, do you know what I said to her every night before the rapture?" Anna shook her head.

"I love you. Those three words were what I said to her every night. It didn't matter if she hated me at the moment because when I said those words, they were true. I'm telling you this because I had no regrets when she disappeared. No matter where she went, she knew that I loved her. That I still love her."

Anna's father turned around and faced the door with one hand on the frame looking over his shoulder.

"I don't want you to have regrets. I want my daughter to hold her head high, no matter the trials that she has to face in the future."

Anna reached out for him as the door opened, revealing only light on the other side. She felt a tear stream down her cheek when the door closed with him on the other side. Her eyes opened and she found herself still wrapped in blankets on the bed.

Anna sat up and replayed what happened in her dream. She wiped a tear away and stood up.

"A.I.! Are you there? Can you hear-"

"Yes-s, I'm here." It interrupted.

"Do you think it's really possible to fight back against the invasion? Will we be enough? Can we put up enough defenses and survive?"

"Poss-ossible? It's easy to fight back. Winning the war-war will take a lot more than just setting up defenses. If this invasion fails, more will come. Water-ter and rare minerals are vital to the empire. This planet will NOT-T be overlooked or forgotten."

"IF the invasion fails? So, do you think we can stop this first wave?"

"With the right help, including your-yourself... yes."

Anna wiped her face with the bedsheet and put on her military jacket. She grabbed her father's service medal and put it in the pocket on the left front of her jacket.

"Let's get to it, then. This invasion won't stop itself."

Anna left the room and headed for the elevator.