The Guns of Anchorage
May. 8th, 2009 10:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aaaaaaaagh_skyIt was cold- a biting, bone-reaching kind of cold Ellen had never felt before. For a moment, she wondered if something had gone wrong with the suit. Olin had called it a neural interface. Maybe it was stimulating the wrong nerves?
"Hey. Hey!" It was a man's voice, low and gravelly. "Wake up. Come on, snap out of it."
Ellen became aware that she wasn't so much sitting as lying- flat on her back on something unbelievably cold. Blinking, trying to clear her vision, she forced herself to sit up. The world spun crazily about her for a moment. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. When she opened them again-
Well.
She was sitting on stone, under a sky so deep a blue as to be nearly black. All around her were mountains- not the jagged rockpiles of the Capital Wasteland, but real, honest-to-God mountains! With snow on them! At least she assumed it was snow- it certainly looked like what they had at Milliways. And it was more than cold enough for it, with the wind blowing straight through her. She shivered involuntarily and wrapped her arms around her middle.
"That was a hell of a nasty fall you took," said the man's voice.
Ellen's eyes jerked up from the landscape. The speaker was a nearby man in white and grey combat armor. His hair was dark and short, and he looked badly in need of a shave. "When your chute bunched up like that I thought you were a goner. I hope the other guys made it," he continued. "I don't think their patrols spotted us coming in-"
Without warning, the words Sergeant Benjamin Montgomery flickered across the bottom of her field of vision, crossing the man's midsection. Ellen nearly choked in surprise. Then she remembered what McGraw had said- that they needed her to go through a computer simulation of reality. The computer must have been identifying him for her. Okay, she could deal with that.
"-at the rendezvous point as planned," Montgomery continued, seemingly oblivious to Ellen's condition. "Then we'll blow those artillery guns to Hell. Just watch yourself. The Reds up here don't take prisoners. Good luck!"
What? Ellen wanted to ask, but Montgomery had already bolted. By the time she got to her feet, he'd begun climbing the nearest cliff face, with a level of agility she'd never imagined in a human. "Hey!" she called weakly. "Hey, wait, where's the-"
He was over the top and gone before she could say 'rendezvous point'. Fortunately, the computer system heard anyway. Her Pip-Boy bleeped at her, and she looked down to find a rudimentary local map displayed on its main screen. There wasn't much to go on, only the outlines of the area immediately around her, surrounded by the darkness of the unknown- but past that, a single blinking chevron indicated the general direction she had to travel.
Well, that was better than nothing. And it looked as if she had decent simulated equipment, too. She seemed to be wearing the same armor as Montgomery, and carrying a silenced pistol and a good-sized knife. It wasn't as comforting as her shotgun, but it would just have to do. Especially since she could make out the sound of footfalls up ahead, and Montgomery really hadn't sounded like he expected anybody up here to be friendly.
Ellen didn't know what was weirdest:
- the 'oxygen canisters' that glowed bright red when she approached and healed all her hurts as soon as she touched them;
- the big hopper-machines that also glowed red at her approach and yielded a 'All Ammo Replenished' message across her vision on contact;
- the way English translations of the simulated enemy soldiers' words rolled across her vision whenever they spoke;
- the way unused guns and grenades not only shimmered red but gave off a weird electronic tone to draw her attention to them; or
- possibly, just possibly, the way enemy corpses simply shimmered into blue light and disappeared.
It was a very good simulation, she had to give it that. Even Sergeant Montgomery's grumbling sounded close enough to a real person's that she could believe in it. It was just that all the weird little touches along the way made it impossible to get completely caught up. Probably just as well; killing humans who tried to attack her was a necessity, but killing computer phantoms that vanished into light was. . . almost entertaining. Ellen was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to come to like that sort of thing. Maybe the military men who designed the sim were trying to encourage recruits in their duties? She didn't know.
"Keep your eyes peeled for Commies," Montgomery muttered as they crossed an elderly, rusting bridge over a horrifyingly deep gap. "They're around. I can smell them."
Ellen nodded. The simulated soldier hadn't been wrong about their enemies' presence yet- and he wasn't wrong now. Two fur-hatted, snow-goggled Chinese soldiers burst out from around a jutting ridge of rock, shouting about General Jingwei. Ellen dove for the shelter of the nearest crate, the better to brace her assault rifle and tear the nearer of the two apart with automatic fire; Montgomery lit into the other one with his own gun, snarling "And that's how we do it in the Corps!" as the other man fell, gleamed blue, and vanished. It really was disturbingly exhilarating. She had to remind herself that the Outcasts had indicated a real possibility of physical death existed here.
"How much further have we got to go?" she called to Montgomery. Hopefully the mission would be over soon and she could get back to the real world.
"Enh, the entrance to the artillery base is up ahead," said Montgomery. "I dunno what they got waiting for us, so keep a sharp watch."
Ellen grimaced, but nodded. The sooner they made it to the entrance, the sooner they'd be through it, and the sooner they'd be off the cliffs. Best to move quickly, but be careful.
The doors to the artillery facility hove into sight shortly thereafter, and Ellen's stomach sank; they were flanked by a pair of fortifications, each crowded with Chinese soldiers. The ones who lunged out of the concrete bunkers died quickly, but the smarter ones stayed inside, firing out through the slitted windows. "Nuts!" she swore, reloading her assault rifle. "Sergeant, how do we-"
Montgomery wasn't listening, though. "Got a little present for you from Uncle Sam, Commie!" he growled as he saturated the air with ammo. Ellen winced, dashing sideways the instant there was room to make a stab at flanking the enemy positions. She caught sight of an open doorway and silently thanked God for small favors; then she tore a grenade loose from her belt, hefted it, and pulled the pin.
Warning, her vision suddenly said as she let the grenade fly. Chinese Inferno Unit ahead.
"What?"
The world erupted in flame. Ellen just had time to catch sight of a man's outline through the fire before her grenade's explosion added to the deal. She staggered backwards, one arm trying futilely to protect her face. It might have been her imagination, but she thought she could hear Montgomery's encouraging voice over the roaring and the ringing in her ears. Before the pain of burns could set in, she grabbed for another grenade; she didn't need to see to use those…
When the smoke cleared and Montgomery came trotting up to meet her, Ellen could see the flashing red forms of an oxygen canister and an ammo hopper inside the nearest fortification. She staggered in and rested her head on the canister, silently grateful not to be surrounded by corpses. "Was that it?" she said. "Are we good?"
"Out here? Yeah," said Montgomery. "We're gonna have to plough on through, though. Place is probably swarming with Reds."
Lovely, Ellen thought. 'Swarming' was very much not a word that she wanted to hear.
The message floated across Ellen's field of vision for the third time:
This is one of the massive enemy Artillery Guns. Once you plant an Explosive Charge, you have 20 seconds to reach a safe distance before it explodes. Plant charge, or do nothing?
"Plant charge," she said. "Now."
They'd made it through the artillery building by the skin of their teeth. Between the ordinary Chinese soldiers, the ones with sniper rifles, and those dratted 'Crimson Dragoons' in their weird black stealth armor, Ellen had been sure a few times that she'd never be free of Alaska again. But after that last room with the endless lines of shells being prepped for loading into the giant guns, Montgomery had found the door to outside. The wind whipping across the Anchorage cliffs cut through her armor's face mask like a knife, but that was all right. This was the third of the giant artillery guns pounding on the American soldiers at the Anchorage Front. This was the last.
You have twenty seconds to reach a safe distance before it explodes, the simulation informed her. Ellen heaved a sigh of relief. "Montgomery!" she yelled. "You can run now!"
She certainly did, that was for sure. Whatever was in those charges, it could scythe one of the guns off the face of the earth- and the guns were each easily a quarter of the size of the entire town of Megaton. She really didn't want to find out what would happen if she didn't reach that safe distance- she hadn't come this far to fall just short of the finish line.
Ellen ran. Montgomery ran. The wind at their backs urged them on. The world went-
BRRRRABOOOM.
Report to General Chase at the U. S. Field Headquarters, the display laconically informed Ellen as everything went white.
"Hey. Hey!" It was a man's voice, low and gravelly. "Wake up. Come on, snap out of it."
Ellen became aware that she wasn't so much sitting as lying- flat on her back on something unbelievably cold. Blinking, trying to clear her vision, she forced herself to sit up. The world spun crazily about her for a moment. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. When she opened them again-
Well.
She was sitting on stone, under a sky so deep a blue as to be nearly black. All around her were mountains- not the jagged rockpiles of the Capital Wasteland, but real, honest-to-God mountains! With snow on them! At least she assumed it was snow- it certainly looked like what they had at Milliways. And it was more than cold enough for it, with the wind blowing straight through her. She shivered involuntarily and wrapped her arms around her middle.
"That was a hell of a nasty fall you took," said the man's voice.
Ellen's eyes jerked up from the landscape. The speaker was a nearby man in white and grey combat armor. His hair was dark and short, and he looked badly in need of a shave. "When your chute bunched up like that I thought you were a goner. I hope the other guys made it," he continued. "I don't think their patrols spotted us coming in-"
Without warning, the words Sergeant Benjamin Montgomery flickered across the bottom of her field of vision, crossing the man's midsection. Ellen nearly choked in surprise. Then she remembered what McGraw had said- that they needed her to go through a computer simulation of reality. The computer must have been identifying him for her. Okay, she could deal with that.
"-at the rendezvous point as planned," Montgomery continued, seemingly oblivious to Ellen's condition. "Then we'll blow those artillery guns to Hell. Just watch yourself. The Reds up here don't take prisoners. Good luck!"
What? Ellen wanted to ask, but Montgomery had already bolted. By the time she got to her feet, he'd begun climbing the nearest cliff face, with a level of agility she'd never imagined in a human. "Hey!" she called weakly. "Hey, wait, where's the-"
He was over the top and gone before she could say 'rendezvous point'. Fortunately, the computer system heard anyway. Her Pip-Boy bleeped at her, and she looked down to find a rudimentary local map displayed on its main screen. There wasn't much to go on, only the outlines of the area immediately around her, surrounded by the darkness of the unknown- but past that, a single blinking chevron indicated the general direction she had to travel.
Well, that was better than nothing. And it looked as if she had decent simulated equipment, too. She seemed to be wearing the same armor as Montgomery, and carrying a silenced pistol and a good-sized knife. It wasn't as comforting as her shotgun, but it would just have to do. Especially since she could make out the sound of footfalls up ahead, and Montgomery really hadn't sounded like he expected anybody up here to be friendly.
Ellen didn't know what was weirdest:
- the 'oxygen canisters' that glowed bright red when she approached and healed all her hurts as soon as she touched them;
- the big hopper-machines that also glowed red at her approach and yielded a 'All Ammo Replenished' message across her vision on contact;
- the way English translations of the simulated enemy soldiers' words rolled across her vision whenever they spoke;
- the way unused guns and grenades not only shimmered red but gave off a weird electronic tone to draw her attention to them; or
- possibly, just possibly, the way enemy corpses simply shimmered into blue light and disappeared.
It was a very good simulation, she had to give it that. Even Sergeant Montgomery's grumbling sounded close enough to a real person's that she could believe in it. It was just that all the weird little touches along the way made it impossible to get completely caught up. Probably just as well; killing humans who tried to attack her was a necessity, but killing computer phantoms that vanished into light was. . . almost entertaining. Ellen was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to come to like that sort of thing. Maybe the military men who designed the sim were trying to encourage recruits in their duties? She didn't know.
"Keep your eyes peeled for Commies," Montgomery muttered as they crossed an elderly, rusting bridge over a horrifyingly deep gap. "They're around. I can smell them."
Ellen nodded. The simulated soldier hadn't been wrong about their enemies' presence yet- and he wasn't wrong now. Two fur-hatted, snow-goggled Chinese soldiers burst out from around a jutting ridge of rock, shouting about General Jingwei. Ellen dove for the shelter of the nearest crate, the better to brace her assault rifle and tear the nearer of the two apart with automatic fire; Montgomery lit into the other one with his own gun, snarling "And that's how we do it in the Corps!" as the other man fell, gleamed blue, and vanished. It really was disturbingly exhilarating. She had to remind herself that the Outcasts had indicated a real possibility of physical death existed here.
"How much further have we got to go?" she called to Montgomery. Hopefully the mission would be over soon and she could get back to the real world.
"Enh, the entrance to the artillery base is up ahead," said Montgomery. "I dunno what they got waiting for us, so keep a sharp watch."
Ellen grimaced, but nodded. The sooner they made it to the entrance, the sooner they'd be through it, and the sooner they'd be off the cliffs. Best to move quickly, but be careful.
The doors to the artillery facility hove into sight shortly thereafter, and Ellen's stomach sank; they were flanked by a pair of fortifications, each crowded with Chinese soldiers. The ones who lunged out of the concrete bunkers died quickly, but the smarter ones stayed inside, firing out through the slitted windows. "Nuts!" she swore, reloading her assault rifle. "Sergeant, how do we-"
Montgomery wasn't listening, though. "Got a little present for you from Uncle Sam, Commie!" he growled as he saturated the air with ammo. Ellen winced, dashing sideways the instant there was room to make a stab at flanking the enemy positions. She caught sight of an open doorway and silently thanked God for small favors; then she tore a grenade loose from her belt, hefted it, and pulled the pin.
Warning, her vision suddenly said as she let the grenade fly. Chinese Inferno Unit ahead.
"What?"
The world erupted in flame. Ellen just had time to catch sight of a man's outline through the fire before her grenade's explosion added to the deal. She staggered backwards, one arm trying futilely to protect her face. It might have been her imagination, but she thought she could hear Montgomery's encouraging voice over the roaring and the ringing in her ears. Before the pain of burns could set in, she grabbed for another grenade; she didn't need to see to use those…
When the smoke cleared and Montgomery came trotting up to meet her, Ellen could see the flashing red forms of an oxygen canister and an ammo hopper inside the nearest fortification. She staggered in and rested her head on the canister, silently grateful not to be surrounded by corpses. "Was that it?" she said. "Are we good?"
"Out here? Yeah," said Montgomery. "We're gonna have to plough on through, though. Place is probably swarming with Reds."
Lovely, Ellen thought. 'Swarming' was very much not a word that she wanted to hear.
The message floated across Ellen's field of vision for the third time:
This is one of the massive enemy Artillery Guns. Once you plant an Explosive Charge, you have 20 seconds to reach a safe distance before it explodes. Plant charge, or do nothing?
"Plant charge," she said. "Now."
They'd made it through the artillery building by the skin of their teeth. Between the ordinary Chinese soldiers, the ones with sniper rifles, and those dratted 'Crimson Dragoons' in their weird black stealth armor, Ellen had been sure a few times that she'd never be free of Alaska again. But after that last room with the endless lines of shells being prepped for loading into the giant guns, Montgomery had found the door to outside. The wind whipping across the Anchorage cliffs cut through her armor's face mask like a knife, but that was all right. This was the third of the giant artillery guns pounding on the American soldiers at the Anchorage Front. This was the last.
You have twenty seconds to reach a safe distance before it explodes, the simulation informed her. Ellen heaved a sigh of relief. "Montgomery!" she yelled. "You can run now!"
She certainly did, that was for sure. Whatever was in those charges, it could scythe one of the guns off the face of the earth- and the guns were each easily a quarter of the size of the entire town of Megaton. She really didn't want to find out what would happen if she didn't reach that safe distance- she hadn't come this far to fall just short of the finish line.
Ellen ran. Montgomery ran. The wind at their backs urged them on. The world went-
BRRRRABOOOM.
Report to General Chase at the U. S. Field Headquarters, the display laconically informed Ellen as everything went white.