"Sherman, was it?" I asked as I stepped forward; in front of Jack and Riley, Binder was standing off to the side.
"Yes! You know, I can't just let anyone in to see these things! They are dangerous! I am doing this for everyone's safety!" Sherman complained, but I shook my head.
"How about you just open all the doors? That is easy right?" I asked, and Sherman blinked at ,
"Didn't you hear what I just said?!" Sherman complained, but I gave him a look, and he sighed. "I have worked here half my life, and this is the respect I get! Pushed around by everyone!"
"Stop complaining and just open the damn door already, Sherman! No one gives a shit about your sad story!" Jack snapped, and I put up my hand.
"I get it, Sherman, but things are going to be changing around here. If you want to be part of the change in a positive way, I suggest that you start working on being a bit more helpful. I will look past this for now, but I require you to be more helpful when I ask things. If not, then I will find soone that will. In this case, it will be soone that can hold and turn a key. I can assu a replacent won't be that hard to find," I explained, and Sherman's prominent Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he gulped.
"Umm, sure. I will work on that. If tis are changing, then I guess I had better get on the bandwagon, hehe," Sherman said with an uneasy laugh as he fished out a large set of keys.
"Wow, all these years of this dipshit saying no to , and he just rolls over like a dog looking for a belly rub!" Jack complained, and I turned to him.
"You do know that this person has just been doing their job, whether you think he was trying to wrong you. I can respect soone who follows the rules that are set out for them and do as they are told. Seems that is the striking difference between the two of you. One listens, the other talks," I said, and Jack snapped his mouth shut as I turned back to the glass booth that was being unlocked.
The tank that was in there was like nothing that I had ever seen in real life, but it kind of reminded of one of the tanks that the Covenant used.
The gun on it was the thing that stood out the most; a six-foot barrel in a triangular shape, but the points were flat. The barrel had what looked like they were used to absorb whatever kind of recoil it produced. There were no tracks, so that ant that it used a gravity engine, one of the few energy sources that still worked.
"Can we take this out? Or is there another one sowhere for easier access?" I asked as I turned to Sherman, and he gave a sideways look at Jack.
"There is one in one of the secret hangers above," Sherman said in a barely audible voice.
"Quite fucking whisper, you little shit!" Jack growled, and I waved him off. This fucking guy.
"Sherman, what can you tell about… what do you call this thing?" I asked. "And not the unit number, please. That ans nothing to ."
"The registered na for it is Gravity Propulsion Tank with a mounted Particle Beam, but most people just call it the Gravy Train. Don't ask why. The na is stupid," Sherman explained as I walked around the tank.
"Particle Beam? What about blooming? How does it keep all the energy focused without losing strength?!" Binder asked as he looked over the cannon barrel.
"No clue. We really have no idea how any of this stuff works, and we haven't even been able to shoot this thing yet because we don't know how to," Sherman explained.
"That is because you only let stupid white coats like you test these things! You have never driven a single tank in your life! I am an Astro chanic! This is my job to know these things!" Jack declared, and I turned to him.
"Since when is it an Astro chanics job to work on Xeno-Tech? You repair space rovers and satellites, not Xeno-Weaponry!" Sherman snapped, and Jack gave him his middle finger.
"Shut up, Glasses! Your job is to be an expert in Alien weaponry, but you have never even fired a pistol! How the hell are you supposed to know how to use an alien weapon if you have never even used a human one?! Call what you want, but I have real-world experience, and I have served my country!" Jack snapped, so I turned to him.
"Then how does the particle beam work then?" I asked, and Jack shrugged.
"Never been inside, so not a clue, but I can make her move! Let Binder here figure the gun out. I an, I could get in there and fuck around, and I could probably make it fire sothing, but why do that when we got the pro here!" Jack said, slapping his hand on Binder's shoulder. "You can figure this out, right?"
"I have no idea how this thing works," Binder said, but he looked excited. "This thing is amazing, and I would really like to see this particle beam in action. If we can learn how they power it and how it works, the applications we can use this for in the planet's defense should be astounding. Creating an Energy Rifle will be very good for fighting robots. Depending on where they get their energy from, we could use the weapons to overload them."
"I like the sounds of that. This is sothing that we are going to clearly have to work on if it can deal with the Cleaners. They are the farthest away, but they pose the biggest problem. We don't want to start an all-out fight, but I am sure that we are going to have to hold them off for a bit. We still have a lot to do before we are ready to leave the solar system," I explained, and Sherman made a strange noise, so I turned to him. "What is it?"
"You said to leave the solar system?! Are we leaving on a ship?!" Sherman asked in confusion.
"Sort of. We are going to turn the planet into a space-faring vessel and jump into a black hole to escape from a horde of AI called the Cleaners that are coming to "clean" us from the planet. There are also two other alien races, the Drakar and Gideons, that are coming to attack us," I explained, and Sherman looked like he was about to pass out.
"... I will assu that you have a plan in place for this already?" Sherman asked quietly, and I nodded.
"For the most part, but this is why I need everyone to work with , not against . This is the reason that I know the General Crass fully intended to work against and was only concerned about keeping control of this base. I have no room or ti for people like that in the new world I am creating," I explained, and Sherman looked paler.
"Are you just going to kill those that don't want to listen to you?" Sherman asked, and I shrugged.
"To be completely honest, that is a real possibility. I don't plan on, nor do I have ti to wait for everyone to co around. This world has been a bunch of chickens running around with their heads cut off and everyone doing their own thing. How has that worked so far? Do we have peace anywhere? If I ask, will everyone work together?" I asked.
"I am sure that given a choice, people will want to change, right?" Sherman asked hopefully, and Jack burst out laughing.
"Before I was brought to the Great Forest, there were people outside of the forest, trying to get in. They were all fat cats and other high-ranking people. I talked to them before coming into the forest, and none of them seed to understand why they weren't allowed in. Sure, so people will change, but Daniel doesn't have ti to wait around for that. When he says the world is going to end, that is no joke. He has already saved us once from complete destruction. Stop being a dipshit and grab a paddle or sink in the drink!" Jack snapped, and I sighed, even though Jack was right.
People that I had kicked out of the city were still trying to get in, but none of them were willing to change. This was going to be the sa for a large portion of the world. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do about that.
I wasn't going to cave and accept people into my society that wasn't going to get along with everyone. I also wasn't going to task the trees with trying to make these people change.
What I was going to have to do was figure out a way to explain this to everyone across the world. Once everyone knew the conditions, then they could decide if they wanted to change.
The options were change or death. Not much of a choice, but this was the way the cookie crumbled.
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