Chapter 1: A Chance
"You're my hope no, our hope."
"I love you! I love you my dear. I am coming for you. Our son is here now. Your son is here. He will fulfill all that you wished for."
The voice was coming from a middle-aged man, with gray hairs. With tears in his eyes, he kept repeating the same words again and again. The grief in his heart could clearly be seen on his face.
He seemed to have been deprived of any happiness from decades.
Gradually the voice, started to fade away
"Titty?!"
"Damned Titty, wake up!... We have to go for the virtual initiation for the Skynet."
"Just 5 minutes please... let me be." a lousy voice was heard, from the 17 year old boy, sleeping in the coach.
His friend Deryl acted as if he didn't hear him, and dragged him off his seat. "Let's get going, idiot."
Being dragged for a while, the boy being called 'Titty' opened his eyes for a second. The next moment he punched the other guy in his guts.
"Get off of me!"
Angered by the punch, the other guy kicked him on the ribs.
"That's what you get for being like this."
After having the powered kick, 'Titty' recovered from his daze, and stood up. He glared at Deryl in front of him, but a few moments later eased his expression.
"When does it start?"
"10 minutes."
Deryl answered.
Hearing this, the boy's expression changed visibly into one of worry.
"What the fuck are you standing here for then? Let's go!" He rushed out saying this.
"Not my fault bitch." Deryl rushed after him.
A few minutes later, outside the cosmic train station. A man was standing on a small platform, with a dozen guards behind him, with their hands behind their back.
In front of the man, there was a huge crowd of teens. They were looking at the man with mixed emotions.
Some of the eyes were filled with expectation and hope, while others had a look of admiration towards him and were awed by him.
Some even held malice, while others had disdain for him.
"So, everyone is here?" The man on the platform asked one of his guards behind him.
"Sir, two have yet to arrive, they are those ones. Oh wait! they just arrived as well."
The man looked at the two incoming boys from the corner of his eyes, without a change in his expression.
Then, he stepped at the corner of the platform, and said, "For today I will be your initiation manager. After that, it's your job to continue your life there, in any manner you do. I will give you the instructions received by every virtual fighter during his first trial and nothing else."
"First, those who think this is a game you played in childhood, I suggest you run away after today."
"Second, you only have three lives until you are under exceptional conditions. One more death than the allowed means, your qualifications for Skynet is revoked."
"And the last, all meritorious services for the human race will be rewarded."
After speaking the last sentence, the man turned around and said to the guards.
"Commence virtual initiation. It shouldn't take more than ten to twenty hours considering these are all commoners. Those two might take some time though."
"I don't understand these nobles, why not use their private initiators? The public ones are this crowded, but no, they have to be here."
After saying this, he vanished from the platform as if he was never there.
His disappearance caused a commotion among the teens.
"Woah! That was Night Thunder wasn't he?"
"I have seen him in holograms... that was him."
"Damn!He was so great looking."
"I love him, he is so handsome."
"He's just a quack."
"Yeah, I know all about him. He knows nothing."
"Yeah, he's just low leveler."
The guards visibly annoyed by this, had them quieten down. They made them queue up, and a portal opened up near the platform. The teens were made to walk into the portal, one by one.
Meanwhile, Deryl and 'Titty' were panting like dogs.
"I hate you fucker!" Deryl remarked while huffing.
"Right now? Shouldn't we fight later?" 'Titty' said submissively while slightly raising his arms.
"Yeah, later. We'll settle this with your face and my fists. Titan be responsible, for your actions might be watched, from now on. I won't be able to babysit you in Skynet."
Titan seemed to have not heard it.
"Alright, by the way, do you know that idiot standing up there?"
"Yeah, some Thunder thing. Too weak to be something, and bullies children like us. But it seems like he is quite popular among the commoners."
"Yeah, he seemed like a quack, since I laid my eyes on him."Titan laughed.
"Stop being high and mighty, you're no different. Let's go now."Deryl held his hand and started to cut the lines, pushing and running together with him towards the portal.
The guards spotted their nuisance, but let them be. Others also made way for them, after looking at the symbols on their vests.
Faint sounds could be heard while they passed through the crowd.
"Deryl Mches and Titan!"
"It's those trouble makers, damn."
"I had heard they'd be coming here."
"These fuckers really came, damn it."
"I just hope they don't break the initiation chambers, or we're ruined."
Various curses could also be heard wherever they traveled, but the two boys didn't seem to have heard them. Or maybe they just ignored, as they had listened things like this, since a long time ago.
They finally reached the portal, after a tens of metres of pushing though. Then, they rushed into the portal, and vanished within the grains of light.
-Milky Way United HQ
An old man was sitting on the highest chair, in front of the various ministers of the United. They were all silent, upon looking at the grave expressions on their faces, it seemed as if, humanity was facing one of the biggest problems.
This silence prevailed for a few minutes, until a young man dressed in galactic military uniform arrived.
He went near the old man and whispered something to him.
Hearing his words, the old man stood up. Without a change in his expression, he walked towards the glass wall behind him. Looking at the huge space city under his feet, he sighed.
"As you all know, it's been 29 years since that war, and humanity has finally attained peace. But this has reduced us instead of making us greater as competition at this level is something we could never imagine."
"Although humanity is united like a shield against other galaxies, if we don't grow then we'll become resources for others to use."
"We don't even know the path to growth after this. This is an extreme we could achieve by discovering until we undertake the development in the 5th dimension and that is impossible for now."
"Energy reserves are going down, due to the mass consumption, and cannot sustain us much longer than, fifty to sixty years. Humanity will die, if we remain useless as we are in the Universal Skynet."
He turned around, looking at the ministers he noticed the disappointment on their faces.
"But don't worry much my friends. For I have received information that can change all this."
All of the ministers stood up at once and started speaking at the same time.
"Are you serious, President?"
"Something like this cannot be joked about."
"Do we really have a chance?"
The Old President finally gave a smile, something that hadn't been seen since the End War of the galaxy.
"Yes, my friends. I am not joking. I really am not, and even if I want to, I cannot stop the rise of humanity now. As we have been given the chance."
One of the ministers questioned.
"What chance? Oh there is."
"But wasn't 'it' supposed to happen 357 years later?"
"Haha! Yes! It was but something has happened. Universal Skynet has announced that it will begin in three months according to Milky Way time."
The ministers lost control upon hearing this.
"What the fuck! President!"
"I don't believe it. No, I don't. I am going to check the Skynet. My treat if it's true."
"My God, humanity has a chance now."
"We can finally recover from the consequences of the war."
Upon saying this, they found some excuses and ran away.
The President didn't mind it, as this joyous occasion is supposed to be celebrated. He walked out of the meeting room, and went to his private office.
While going inside, he dismissed the human guards. He sat on his chair, and tears started to pour out of his eyes.
He was looking towards the plain analog watch on his wrist, and a few drops fell on it. He wiped the tears with his palm.
Inside the glass of the watch was written a name. A name, which reminded him of the good days of his life. The carefree ones, when he was just a young adult, and humanity was still fighting other races of the Milky Way.
"I wish you were here to see this day." He murmured.
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