The Electronic Commandos by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

Mercy’s choice

As I wake, all I see is white. Oh fuck, it was just a horrible dream of my tormented mind.

“No John, it was not a dream.” The woman told me. She looks like a human cat.

“I guess that is what you can cope with. My species is called felid. Just so you know, your thoughts are not private in my realm. I am the god of mercy. You seem to be strong willed. Of those who died from that horror, you are the only one to wake here.”

“So where is here?”

I ask but the sound of my voice is as it was when I was thirty. When I was that age, I was on the radio. A talk show host. More than once, I was told that I really had a voice for radio. The bold rich tone that made people comfortable when they heard it.

My body does not ache, why?

She says that she has rebuilt my body to that thirty year old age but now she had a special assignment for me if I chose to accept. If not, she would send me to the final life and erase all memory of the room.

“At lease let me tell you about the assignment and then you can accept or reject it.”

I really see no reason not to let her tell me about it so I ask her to explain what she would like me to take on.

“Out in the universe, there are quite a number of greedy evil beings. A large number on planets that are advanced. Most AI’s are benign. Just work related, The evil people have corrupted some of the AI’s to the point that they commit horrendous acts to gain wealth for their programmers.

What we gods have decided is that we need someone to seek out those programs and programmers. You would rewrite the AI and trap the evil ones.”

“I know nothing about programming. I would not be able to catch them let alone bring them to justice.”

“That is the point. You will not bring them to justice. You will still be a flesh and blood person like you are now but you will also be able to go inside the computers as a program character called Electronic Commando. You will enter the program and see it in your eyes as a real world.

Take the paths and lanes on a quest to find the sick and corrupted enemy. You will do battle and defeat the boss. You would decide as to change it to good and turn its attention to the evil ones. The other alternative is to destroy the AI being and you turn on them.

As far as your travel to those worlds, we will take you there. Our means is instantaneous. What do you say?”

“That travel. I had always dreamed of going into space. Is there any way I could go into space and just, what was that television shows word, oh yea warp speed to the world? If you can arrange that I’ll take the job.”

She looks as if she is doing a conference call with someone. She finishes.

“There is an extra requirement but it can be done. To have that power, you would need to be immortal with the ability to stop your time. You would have a bubble around you but you would never run out of air and no object can puncture it.”

I’m beside myself. I figured some sort of ship.

She adds “It is like their door but instead of just stepping from one world to the next, it will be the same instant but seem longer to me because you stop time. You will not be going from world to world just working. We find them and then we contact you. You would be able to explore. Being immortal you will not be affected by threats and weapons.”

“Explore worlds, sign me up but won’t I need training?”

She comes over and taps me on the forehead and then opens a door. We are in space. Floating in space. No suit, no ship, NO SHIT.”

I realize that I am breathing. I hear her mentally tell me to think of her realm. I do and we start to soar through space. She tells me that I control whether ships see me or not. In a bit of time, but I am lost at the sights, suddenly we are back in her realm.

She has a computer there. There is a wifi set up. There. I can feel it. The waves are washing over me. She tells me to follow the waves that the computer is using. She will follow me.

Those waves are like a whirlpool. I find myself diving into that whirlpool, not being sucked in. I control it. I hear her say good. Now I am inside the computer. She shows me how to access the program and it is simple.

I find myself standing in a meadow. Not as real as actual life but it is like what I remember myself playing when I was younger. She is the same. She looks like the pixel form. I hear her talk and that is normal.

“Think of a weapon like a sword.”

I do and now there is one in my hand but now I know I have the sword skills above any player in any game. Now I see a character charging me he has one of those great swords. The type that a real person in real life could not swing it with any skill shown in games.

She tells me that I can think. If I get into a tight situation, where the weapon does not suit the player, I can get one suited. This is a bid bastard and the way he swings that great sword, my sword ain’t gona make it.

In my hand is an AK47 with one of those anime clips that never run out. I just keep on firing until it is not there anymore. She is impressed.

“Now, do you feel anything more?”

I let myself just mind wander. I tell her that I do not sense anything.

“Okay for this one. In real situations, you need to fly around and make sure.”

All of a sudden, everything goes black. She tells me that the computer has been shut down. Think about a flash light. I do and I have one. Now she tells me that I should be able to sense the wifi. Follow the path in the direction of the wave.

Following a metal path towards that signal, I finally find the wifi circuit board. I have to swim against the now light stream and I am out. Reforming into flesh, I smile at her. I have to ask.

“What do you think, before I take on my first assignment. Can I slip into one of those online RPG’s and mess with the top players. It would be good practice for the real thing because I would be going against a thinking player. Can I? It is training but I will be truthful with you. It has been a long time of being taunted by those kids in my exhibit that I would really love to whoop some young butt.

I am told that since it is for training, I find myself in the online version of where I was. This game does not have fire arms but I still could use anything else. I look over my head and it is a sign with my moniker. .

There is a voice that sounds like the god of mercy announcing, “The Electronic Commando is entering the game.”

Immediately I am being swarmed by newbie killers. I hear the electronic scream as they die. Big and small. I look at the way they attack and I just know the counter. One by one they fall and they lay there until the battle is over. I raise my sword and holler. “Victory!”

I have a few regulars come over and all are telling me that those killers deserve that ass kicking. They spoil the experience for everyone. Now I’m getting offers to join groups so I must tell all.

“There will be times that I will be able to come back but my employment bosses are watching all the time. Good people but when they want me to travel, I go but I will try to return as much as possible.”

I finish with, watch for “The Electronic Commando“ and I pull out.

That was the best.

She tells me that I am a natural. I tell her that my first computer was a Commadore VIC 20. I played Atari and their successors. “I am an original gamer but with actual war experiences.”

That was the biggest reason my old body and mind were such a wreck.