Sim 299 by Johan Twiss

Author:Johan Twiss [Twiss, Johan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781517166335
Publisher: Twiss Publishing
Published: 2015-10-26T23:00:00+00:00

***

Aidan shivered as he trudged through the thick snowbanks on the side of the mountain valley. He wore the heavy, white camouflage snow gear of the Ethos Army, but the bitter cold still seeped into his bones.

“Fig, Palomas, Masay, do you copy?”

There was no answer. The sim for this trial had landed each participant in random spots of the mountain valley. The objective was an elimination round. The first coterie to capture or kill all members of the other coterie won.

The blinding snowstorm seemed to affect all communication, causing only static on their commlinks. Aidan vibroscanned the area, but the blizzard conditions caused a white-out effect on his vibruntcy. The sound of the wind and the whipping movement of millions of snowflakes only allowed him to see a few feet in each direction. Still he focused, trying to process all of the movements and vibrations.

There it is again, he thought. A blip appeared on the three-dimensional view in his mind. It looked like two individuals blazing a trail up ahead and then they disappeared. He had no idea if they were friend or foe, but there was only one way to find out.

For this trial, they faced the fourteen-year coterie, which had eight total cadets. Once again, they were outmatched by numbers and age.

Aidan worried about Fig and Palomas, but knew they were prepared for the trial. What was more concerning was the introduction of Masay into their coterie. Who was he? Was it coincidence that he showed up days before their jump back into sim 299? Coterie transfers between complexes were uncommon, but not unheard of. General Estrago once told Aidan there were over six hundred training facilities, like Mount Fegorio, spread across Ethos. Surely this had to be a coincidence.

Aidan stopped walking, his body knee-deep in powdery snow. His wandering mind caused him to lose focus on his direction and the two beings he saw moving in the area. He pulled off his glove, shivering as the cold stung his fingertips, and pushed his arm through two feet of snow to touch the icy ground below. He vibroscanned the area again, putting more effort into his vision. He saw nothing.

“Where did those two disappear to?” he whispered.

Aidan pulled his numb fingers back into his glove. Something was not right. He tried to access puzzler mode, but once again, it was not cooperating. The desolation and loneliness of the sim was beginning to wreak havoc on his nerves as he trudged through heavy snowbank after heavy snowbank.

How long have I been walking? he thought wearily. Each new step seemed to drain more of his physical and mental energy.

Aidan heard a crunch in the snow behind him and he froze, which was not hard to accomplish in the frigid climate. The blizzard only allowed a few feet of visibility and he saw no one behind him.

“Who’s there?” he asked, trying to sound confident through chattering teeth.

Aidan heard another crunch, this time to his side, followed by two, then three more in every direction.

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