Life With Ares

Mars isn't home right now

It was horrifying, yet I couldn't take my eyes off of it. There in the bottom of the quarry was the black monolith, diamond shaped, and hovering just above the ground. I couldn't make out the symbols on it from here, they just looked like blurs. Yamato was right about the aura of dread, and it was even giving me a headache. It was amazing and terrifying. Dr. Dijin's drones buzzed around it, scanning it, as Shiara, Od Garda, Yamato, Lt. DeKalb, and Dr. Dijin examined the Monolith.

I looked over to Lt. Sage who seemed to be taking the "kick back" part of this too literally. We were hidden behind and between three giant, grey, piles of gravel from the quarry. We had a perfect view of everything below, and Lt. Sage sat in the folding chair he'd brought with his feet up on a pile of gravel he kicked together. His rifle leaned against the chair, and a cigarette hung in his mouth, smoke drifting out of it. He must've caught me staring.

"What? Want one?" He started reaching for his pocket.

"Huh? A cigarette? No thanks." I waved my hand to signal.

"Alright, suit yourself. By the way, if DeKalb asks, I wasn't smoking anything up here." He exhaled a small cloud.

"Oh. Would he care?" I asked, eyeing the gun Lt. Sage gave me. It was laid on the ground.

"Yeah. He says there's enough things trying to kill us out here, and that I don't need anymore, but whatever." He shrugged.

"Are you and Lt. DeKalb close?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'd say so. He's probably my best friend."

"Ah, I see. You guys join up together?"

"Fuck no. We met in the service, DeKalb was made for this. Every man in his family served. I joined to get out of a gang."

"A gang... What gang?"

Before he could answer my question Yamato's voice came over the communicators on our wrists.

"Hey Sage, you see anything weird from up there?" Yamato asked.

"Nope. Just a big empty quarry." Sage answered.

"Huh. Od Garda and I just noticed that there's no one here. He swore that he placed a team to guard the Monolith."

"I see..." Sage got up and grabbed his rifle, "Lemme take another look, for anything weird." He said and used the same pile of rocks he put his feet on to kneel behind and steady his rifle. I also looked around. I looked to the sky and saw the battle above. Volleys of orange and green plasma were being exchanged between the two fleets. I averted my gaze from the battle above and scanned the quarry with Sage, "I should've put up my Spotter. Dammit."

"Spotter?" I asked, holding my gun. I don't know why. It just felt right.

"Yeah. Every one in UPISO or anyone the rank of lieutenant is given surgery for a HUD- Chip, or Heads Up Display Chip, that connects to your brain and optical nerves. When you put up a spotter it'll mark targets and feed you information. HUDs also count your ammo and stuff like that." Sage said, adjusting his scope.

"Woah. That sounds awesome." I said, wondering what it must look like.

"It's pretty cool--" Out of the corner of my eye, to our left, I only caught a glimpse. It was a flash, a glare, like someone tilting a glass screen to reflect the sun. Then a bang.

"Lt. Sage!" I cried. It was a sniper. Exactly like when Shiara threw the book at me I caught the wad of plasma, inches before it melted Sage's temple. I could feel the energy of the plasma still grinding against the transparent red shell around it, holding it in place. Sage's cigarette fell from his mouth as he stared in awe. I waited until the plasma grinded out it's energy before dissipating right in front of Sage. Seconds later Sage grabbed his rifle and aimed back over to where the shot came from.