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Copyright 1988 Landmark Entertainment "Database Journal, 48 21 mark 5, Jonathan Power reporting." "I've debated long and hard about relating this story. So much of it still remains a mystery even now. But someday, others may encounter similar events, and even if I'm unable to offer any answers, perhaps those others can take comfort from realizing that they've not been alone in their experiences." It began when Tank, Scout, Ranger and myself made a return trip to Darktown. That's the place that took such a terrible pounding during the Metal Wars, particularly from Dread's chemical weapons. Acid fog and lethal burn holes have left Darktown uninhabitable. Soaron is the only unit in the BioDread forces that is unaffected by the hostile conditions. Dread's robotic troopers can function in Darktown, but if left in that deadly environment for too long, they go rogue. Our PowerSuits give us about an hour's protection from the atmosphere - the rogue troopers we have to fight off ourselves. We needed fast information on Dread's Project: Stormbringer, and Darktown seemed to be the best place to get it. Ranger landed the JumpShip just outside the acid fog's range and we soon slipped quietly into the town without any trouble. We made our way to the city center in hopes of tapping into the same information station that we used on our last visit. The deadly acid fog had been eating away at our PowerSuits for nearly 15 minutes when we reached our destination. It looked worn and shabby - a dulled, warped plastic computer console, soon to be another victim of the merciless fog - but the two Dread trooper guards on either side meant that it was still functioning. Scout used his holo-field to assume Dread trooper form. There was a risk that the chemical fog would short out his holo-field, but it was our only hope to gain the information that we needed. Peering cautiously out from behind some rubble, I watched Scout in disguise approach the two troopers. That's when I noticed one of them beginning to rock backwards and forwards on it's feet. I wanted to call Scout back, but I was too late - both troopers were already responding to his salute. As Scout's nimble fingers danced across the keyboard, mine folded tightly around the handle of my blaster. Beside me, Tank was itching to open fire and Ranger's hands were on his arm as if to hold him back. Ranger knew that we must not make a move unless it was absolutely necessary. All this time, Scout's holo-field held up. Finally, he backed away from the console, turned and began walking toward us. A little hand gesture told me that he'd gotten the information that we required, and I was thinking that we might just be able to wrap up the mission without any trouble. I was wrong ... When Scout was half-way back to us, the swaying Dread trooper suddenly lashed out at it's companion. What I feared had happened - the trooper had gone rogue. In an instant, it had reduced the second guard to a crumpled heap of robotic junk, and Scout was next on it's hit list ! We all jumped into action. Our blaster fire cut the rogue down as it advanced on a very startled Scout, but the real risk was that our shots would be heard, even through the dense, deadening fog. Scout dropped his holo-field disguise as he rejoined us. "The installation in Section 12 is where Project: Stormbringer is based," he said quickly. "But Captain - there's something else. I'm sure the information requests were being monitored. Maybe Dread's tightened up on that aspect of security since we were last here." "Then let's move," I answered. "This place could be crawling with BioDreads any second now." Unfortunately, this time I was right. We sprinted along the street, but the familiar shapes of Dread's troopers began to appear through the mists at the far end. The fact that their face-plates had mostly been eaten away by the acid fog told us that they were all rogues. Without any sense of self-preservation, they just kept coming forward, like zombies, forcing us back through sheer weight of numbers. Suddenly we began to be peppered with laser fire from above. I glanced up to see the sleek, sinister form of Soaron swooping down upon us. I fired wildly in Soaron's direction, hoping that my random shots would slow his dangerous attack. They did. At least we had a few seconds respite while he gained height for another assault. It gave me the chance to gain height myself, for I saw a flight of steps leading to the second floor of a ruined building beside us. Instructing Tank, Scout and Ranger to fight off the rogue troopers, I mounted the steps three at a time, hoping to surprise the air warlord from this new vantage point. It worked to a degree. When Soaron next swooped, I scored four clear hits on him before he could respond. But that response, when it came, was devastating. Soaron fired an implosion bomb, going for the building as much as for myself. Brilliant explosive light blinded me for an instant as the floor beneath my feet opened like a trap door. I remembered thinking as I began to fall, that I'd be safe, that my PowerSuit would protect me. I was still thinking that as the suit's computer voice announced, "WARNING --- TOTAL SYSTEM FAILURE !" I don't remember hitting the ground - all that I can recall is a long drop into darkness. Warmth. That was the next sensation that I felt. Warmth - from the sun. Okay, so I know that it sounds crazy, but this is where things started really becoming weird. Next, I slowly opened my eyes. Everything was dazzingly white at first, and it gradually dawned on me why - i was looking directly into the sun. It was warm and strong, so strong that I had to shield my eyes. Gradually my normal vision returned. Everywhere I looked there were bright, pure colors. Greens, blues, yellows... I couldn't believe it. These colors weren't abstracts - they were objects. Trees, grass, water, sky... on it went as far as I could see! The world I knew, of grey, bleak stretches of desert and shattered darkened shells of ruined cities, was gone. Beauty took it's place, and was all around me. I'd no idea where I was, but one word sprang to my lips, "Paradise..." "We like to think so," said a voice behind me. I spun around quickly, my hand instinctively reaching for my blaster, which was no longer there. A familiar face smiled at me. "Old habits...", laughed John, the courier that we'd met on our last visit to Darktown. He was still the same tall, healthy, full of vigor person that I'd remembered. "They're the only things that ever really die here in Eden II...!" Eden II! Maybe I should have guessed, but only when I heard him say those words did it really sink in. We'd all heard the stories, we all knew the myth, but for me, at that very second, it was suddenly all so real. I knew at once that I never wanted to leave. John and I began to stroll through the long grass. He was talking about Eden II's creation, I think, but I just can't recollect any of the details now. Perhaps that isn't strange, considering what later happened. I know for sure, though, that we walked for at least two hours before we came to a settlement. I was happier, more relaxed and content than I'd ever been before. I felt as though I'd come home. Vi, Hawk's old friend, was one of the first to greet me. She was glad to see me, as was everyone. But after we'd said our hellos, she asked a simple question that changed everything. She said, "How's Hawk... ?" For the first time since I'd woken, after the fall, I thought of the rest of my teammates. My comrades in battle against the evil Lord Dread. My friends... I had found Paradise. I had found Peace. But without knowing the fate of those friends, abandoning them to struggle on alone against Dread, how would I ever know the paradise of peace of mind? Eden II really felt like home. My body ached to stay, but in my heart, I knew that I couldn't. John nodded sagely when I told him of my decision. He smiled at Vi, who stepped forward to place a small, heavily scented flower just inside my tunic. "We will take you back, Captain", John was saying, "but you must be unconscious, so that the passageway to and from Eden II remains a secret to you." He explained that this was necessary in case I was ever captured by Lord Dread. I'd never be able to reveal the entrance to Eden II, he was saying, though the heady aroma from the flower was getting to me. Everything began to go hazy, and I realized that the intoxicating scent was sending me to sleep just mere moments before it actually did. My next conscious thought was of hands pulling at my fatigues and a voice yelling "Pawra ... Kappen Pawra!" echoed in my mind. Six faces, three of them Tank, three of them Scout, swirled before me. Slowly they began to merge into two solid heads, and at last I could make sense of the voice, Tank's voice. "Power on, Captain ... power on!" I think it was memory rather than mental power that pushed my hand towards my suit actibadge. Immediately, I felt stronger as my suit's reserve energy rippled around my body. "Captain, are you okay?" asked Scout. "Boy, you had us worried for a few minutes. We thought maybe the acid fog, or other deadly chemicals around here had gotten through to you while your Power Suit was down." "I'm back ..." I weakly answered. "Back from Eden II." Their perplexed expressions told me I wasn't making much sense, so I tried to explain. "I was there. It was real - and it's so beautiful!" The more I spoke, however, the more their confusion grew. "Captain," Tank interrupted patiently, "you haven't been anywhere. You couldn't have - you've only been out of our sight for, maybe, two minutes max!" Now they weren't making any sense to me. "But Vi ... and John! I saw them!" I protested. "No Captain," answered Scout. "You only thought you did. After Soaron fired at you, Tank brought him down with some heavy-duty fire-power. But by then, you'd crashed to the ground, momentarily losing power to your suit. Maybe you took a blow to your head as you fell, maybe there's some weird hallucinogenic chemicals in the air, or whatever ... you were out of it, but you were always here. Like Tank says, there wasn't time for you to have gone anywhere else ...!" We made it back from Darktown without any problems - except for the one that was tearing my mind apart. The Eden II episode still seemed fresh and wonderfully real to me, yet I had to admit that according to Tank, Scout and Ranger, it quite simply couldn't have happened. So there it is ... the Eden II enigma. Does it exist? Perhaps ... but perhaps only in our hearts, for we have to believe that there really can be a place better than this Lord Dread dominated world. Database Journal entry ends ... Captain Power turns off the Journal tape, then sits back in his chair. It had been a long story, a difficult story for him to tell. He hoped he'd related it all correctly, except for the one important detail that he'd kept back. He sat trying to convince himself that he was right to omit it, that it had to stay his secret. Without it, the Soldiers of the Future would cease to function. The world would become Lord Dread's as the Soldiers became seekers - for Eden II. Power reaches inside his tunic and pulls out the flower which Vi had given him. He glances at the incinerator beside him, then looks back at the flower. He isn't surprised to see that the flower is dead ... |