ADAM

 

Wednesday January 8 - 0725 MST

Seven days until Turbocharger activates

 

 

There was a knock at my door. I wasn't sure how long that visitor had been knocking but it sounded like they were getting impatient. I didn't care.

That was the most awesome night's rest I ever had. Nothing wears you out like a life or death struggle against an alien demon-god. There are hibernating bears that weren't as far gone as I had just been. Best of all, I didn't get a visit from Taob in my dreams. If this is how sleep was going to be from now on I could really get used to it.

Yesterday had really taken it out of me. Not only had I just finished the most intense battle of my life, but then I had been thrown forward in time seven months, found out the CTTC had a huge makeover, and I had the pleasure of calling my dad to inform him I wasn't really dead.

Let me tell you, that was the hardest phone call I ever had to make. He practically broke down when he heard my voice. It never occurred to me that the toughest thing any parent could endure was burying their child. Coupled with the fact that he'd lost my mom already I was surprised he didn't go nuts. They'd made him attend my funeral where he was presented with a folded flag, three brass shells from the twenty-one gun salute, and a posthumously awarded medal. There was also some vaguely worded account of a training accident. It was little comfort and he wished for his son back.

Someone must have heard his plea.

Without even thinking about how I would explain why I was a foot taller, I promised to buy a plane ticket home. The knock came again, but much stronger this time. Someone really wanted me awake.

"Okay-okay. I'm coming." I practically fell off of the cot onto the bare concrete of my room. It was the same room I had before. No one had ever bothered to clean it out. Everything was right as I had left it, with the addition of several months worth of dust.

"You know the door is unlocked." Opening the door I was surprised to find myself eye-to-eye with a man whose shoulders were as broad as my own. For most people this isn't an issue, but when you're seven feet tall it's pretty unnerving to run into someone as big as you.

"Walking into your bedroom uninvited would have been rude." He had the thickest south-eastern drawl. "Mind if I come in, sir?"

"Uh, sure. As long as you don't mind the mess." The overhead lights buzzed as I flipped the wall switch and walked over to the lone chair to remove the pair of my extra-large pants draped over its back. "Do you always sleep this late? They told me you were in the military. Seems a might late to be asleep for a military man."

I shrugged. "It's been a long day for me. About seven months long actually. I needed the rest. By the way, I'm Adam. I didn't catch your name."

That was a bit of a lie. My guest was in woodland camo pattern BDUs. Though he didn't wear any rank or service patches, his nametape read Hooper.

"Where are my manners? My name is Charles Hooper." He reached out with a massive hand and smiled. Hooper's face had those creases that showed he smiled a lot. His scalp was bare and reflected the light of the overheads. I imagined he put something on his head to make it that shiny. I shook his hand. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Adam. I've heard you're quite the hero."

Oh great. Another person that's heard the exaggerated version of the story. You know, at one point in time I thought it would be cool to be the focus of hero worship. Now that I was living it, the whole experience made me feel awkward.

I sat there on the edge of the bed bleary eyed. I wasn't in the mood for groupies. "Look, I don't know what you've heard. But it's probably an exaggeration. I was just there when something big happened, that's all. You mind if we talk about something else?"

He nodded his shiny head. "By all means. What's on your mind?"

"Well…so far you're the first one like me I've ever met. There's a million questions I have that no one's been able to answer. I don't even know what we're supposed to be called."

"Primes." Hooper shook his head as he said the word. "I don't like it, it's a little too new age for me. But it's what the general prefers to use, and who am I to argue with a general? I'm just a simple country boy."

I wasn't sure if he was ready to hear what I'd been told was our kind's name. After all, it had been a demon imprisoned in the basement that had said we were known as the Cohered. There was no telling how Hooper would react to that. "So what do you think we should be called?"

"That's an easy one: Soldiers." I raised an eyebrow at that. That hadn't been the first word that came to mind. "Let me explain. The morning before I changed, my wife and I had a long talk. We decided it would be best if I went back into the army. It was a hard life, on all of us, but she knew it was home for me and I would be at peace. You have to understand my wife is an understanding lady like that. That night I was visited in a dream by an angel. He told me I was needed in another kind of an army and asked me if I would join. Adam, you're looking at me funny…"

Of course I was. That was totally different than my own experience. "Well, yeah. I never got a visit from an angel."

"This angel never told me his name but he asked if I would shoulder this burden. How could I say no to the Almighty?"

Now that I thought about it, Hooper wasn't the first to bring up that notion. The Collector's twin brother, Eli, had called me an angel. Granted that could have been the ravings of a senile old man. The whole thing was infuriatingly full of mysteries and precious few answers. The fact that we had so many names just showed that no one really knew what we were. Angels, exos, transients, Primes, the Cohered. That last one came from a demon who seemed to know more than anyone else. But did I want to talk to it again? Could it even be trusted? It was so easy to be carried away by frustration at the lack of answers. "I guess not. Say, what can you do? I mean, what new things can you do since the Change? Can you do anything like this?"

Holding my hands together, but not close enough to touch, I let miniature arcs of lightning dance between my fingertips. Blue-white flashes of light reflected off his head. Hooper was mesmerized by the display, so I assumed his power was different than mine. So much for my theory that we're all the same.

"What I can do…it's a might hard to explain."

"Try me. I've seen some crazy stuff."

Hooper held up a hand and balled it up into a fist. As I watched his hand's skin tone changed dark gray then faded into a lighter almost white gray, like watching charcoal burn.

"Tap it."

I did as he asked and was surprised to find it was like knocking on granite or an ingot of steel. His skin had become incredibly hard. That was kinda cool actually.

"Put your hands underneath. Then you'll see the really weird part."

I did as he asked. When my hands were cupped like I was getting ready to catch a ball, he dropped his fist. It landed like a basketball made out of lead. I nearly dropped it, it was that heavy.

"Holy cow. How much does this thing weigh?"

Hooper chuckled. "I get to decide how much I weigh now. Doctor Arden calls it variable density scaling. Personally, I think its rude for him to call me dense just because I talk a little slow."

That was pretty cool actually. So I could shoot lightning and he could make himself dense. I wondered if it worked the other way. Could he get so light he would float? And what about the other two, what could they do?

My stomach rumbled.

"Hey, let's continue this at the chow hall. I'm starving and I think it's still open."