Project Devilgama

Nineteen

A squad of unarmed officers clad in layered Nanosar armors escorted Mhaz, Nate, and Watcher in the neon-lit corridors. They had been half-running on the tileless Beton floor for more than ten minutes. Mhaz wondered how far their destination was, but he knew for sure that they were just circulating inside this gigantic roundhouse. Moving down floors. And he could feel his ears getting bombarded by the blasting noises and strange trumpet-like melodies afar. "I know you have gotten business, Mhaz. But we desperately need your assistance on the sentry." Nate said.

"Oh, probably next time if your people can thwart that incoming off, Nate. I need to bail out of this place, meet my men, and do something with the drive and card."

"Listen closely, Mhaz. Once we're done, you can get aboard the escape pod on the top level and do your noble purpose. But you are now combatively more experienced than all of us! Those people are warlords and we need your help." Nate barraged words.

"Look, I hated them to death. But for now, escaping sounds better. I am done with the wars. I had no more power." Mhaz halted his steps and looked the man in the eye. All the escorting officers stopped in union.

"We're escaping once we're done." Nate said, "We have a deal?"

"I got one more thing, Nate." Mhaz replied, "Provide me your electronica and such techno-wizardry. Brief access into them. I need to find them."

"Who?"

"People of Devilgama."

"Deal."

--

The three along with the entire dark squad went into what Nate called a spacious armory. Mhaz could see the wall of the armory being both sleek and robust in black. The lack of articulation and ornaments radiate the vibe of total militaristic devotion. Aside from the plainness, hundreds of small protrusions were racked up inside five tavern-like booths. Those things never looked innocent. Weapons. Officers clad in the same armor as the three's escorting squad lined up in a nearly flawless queue ahead of the booths. The armory was hushed as a cave aside from the menacing chant every half a minute that echoed "Rotulasion, Asension."

An officer wielding a spear-long gun came out of each line after the chant and vanished as they reached the huge doorway of the armory. Invisibility. Watcher told Mhaz that it was the most salient effect of the Nanosar; Noble Man's organic suit of nearly spotless adaptive camouflage. Upon its activation, the wearer could remain unseen to both the human eye and any optical tools until the sun-charged power runs out.

"Wait here, Mhaz. You got any more questions?" Nate asked. "The guns don't look like the ones I saw on you when I hooked you out of the railways, do they?"

"That's right."

"Pour them questions, here. We won't make many silly noises in the queue."

"What do those sayings mean?"

"Radically, superiorly."

A shrill crept through Mhaz's spine. He realized that the words were technical, modern Indonesian terms mixed with the style of English. A shortly spoken spirit possibly to increase the morale of the soldiers. It was something Mhaz wouldn't play with, and then again, he was grateful those men were on his side.

Mhaz saw the queue getting shorter as more officers left. Nate and Watcher began closing the curtain of gloom on their faces, probably unable to speak for the next ten minutes. Then the three strode to one of the lines. Mhaz was four officers from the weapons, and Nate and the woman stood behind him. It was the fact that they became whites among the blacks that continuously bothered Mhaz - how dissatisfying it appeared. He still wore the rubbery uniform of the Devilgama, and the rest were no less out of place. He nearly complained but was still able to reel the words back into his mind.