Samuel got back home that same afternoon, he was given three days of peace, his dad and grandfather were awaiting for him at the door, William face dropped when he saw his son. Samuel weight lose made him look like a corpse, his eyes were sunken and his expression looked defeated.
"Son, what have they done to you?"
"Nothing dad, this is just the usual"
Samuel looked at his grandfather like looking for confirmation, Magnus just nodded.
"Come in son" William invited.
The three men went into the house. William started making questions.
"What is going on in that place?"
"Nothing dad"
"Nothing? Look at you, you look like a corpse"
"It is not so bad dad"
"Don't lie Sam. I know how it is" Magnus intruded in the conversation.
"So what? You want me to tell you that every day I get connected to a machine that burn my nerves and make me feel like I'm swimming in boiling oil. That I get so pumped of drugs that..." a voice interrupted Samuel rant as all devices in the home came on line an gave him a warning.
[Mr. Samuel Terrence, this is a reminder that you are a pilot candidate in training and all information about said training is classified and should not be divulged to civilians. Captain Magnus, as a former pilot you must be aware of this limitations, please cooperate with us to avoid information leakage that might harm the dignity and the public view of your former profession]
"Understood MARTA, I knew you were listening, I just wanted Samuel to learn the lesson. You get it now Sam? They are always watching" Magnus looked all around the house as he said those words.
The house turned silent as the three men watched each other, for a moment they felt trapped in their own home.
"It doesn't matter son; you are home now and for three days you don't have to worry about anything, just rest"
"Well, I'm going back home now; take care of yourself Sammy" announced Magnus.
Samuel nodded.
That night Sam had a hard time falling asleep, the next morning his father got even more worried when he saw him come to breakfast half trembling, sweating and a bit too nervous.
"Son what is wrong?"
"withdrawal"
[Mr. Samuel Terrence, this is a reminder that the army already gave you the needed prescriptions to avoid this symptoms]
"Thanks for the reminder MARTA, now leave us alone, and give back control of our house to our basics AI"
[I can't do that, It is one of my main function to monitor the pilots and candidates activities when they are outside their bases]
Samuel and William looked at each other as they sat on the table for breakfast. Some toast, bacon, scrambled eggs and orange juice. Samuel tried to eat, the nausea in his face could be seen from a mile away, however he still shoved the food on his mouth and swallowed. As he got up to help his father with the dishes William stopped him.
"Leave it, just go rest"
"I will take you on the offer"
Later they sat together in the living room.
"Don't you have to work?"
"I took a few days off; the company didn't dare to say no, I guess being the father of a pilot has some perks"
"Good to know someone is getting something good out of this"
"It is that bad?"
"It is worst dad, a lot worst"
The three days passed like a breeze. One armored vehicle was already waiting for Samuel in front of the house while the neighbors watched from a distance. Father and son hugged each other and with that, Samuel traveled to the crow nest base once more.
The next day, Samuel and Hector showed up to the launch platform, Francis the technician talked to the captain.
"They look even more drained than before"
"I didn't send them to recharge, I sent them to remember" The captain Virna clarified.
Francis just scratched his head as the woman got into her Exoskeleton. The two young pilots boarded their machines without much enthusiasm.
"I know what you guys are thinking" said the captain as soon as communications went on line.
"everyone has doubts, everyone asks themselves more than once, why the hell am I doing this? Today, I will remind you why. MARTA, connect to the exos systems, show me the recordings of the daily life of this pilots candidates in the last three days"
[That would be a privacy violation according to...] the AI was giving the programmed excuse.
"Override, I give the authorization, the two pilots are army assets, their duty has priority over their rights"
[Understood]
The three pilots were shown images of their last days at home, from their moments with their family and friends, to their most intimate moments on the bathroom, to the erotic moments Hector had with some of the girls of his neighborhood.
"Hey MARTA, what the fuck!?" complained Hector.
"Shut up Hector" Ordered the captain. "MARTA, now show them any active battlefield during this last 4 days. Give me direct recordings from the battlefield and the point of view of the pilots, make it immersive, I want them to feel it"
[Understood]
Second later the two young pilots brains stressed as they received an ever increasing amount of information and stimulus, pain killers and stimulant kicked in as the stress increased, the two men found themselves in some battlefield from the perspective of a Exo pilot, to their sides, other giant machines engaged in combat.
"Yoom Kim, go reinforce Hana Han I will keep them under control over here" the pilot they were observing said over the communications channel as MARTA translated from the Korean.
"Copied"
The two young pilots candidates saw how the Korean pilots endured wave after wave of the tentacled monsters attacks. They felt the stress and the pain of the pilot as he pushed his machine and his nervous system to the limits.
"YiHo, to your left!" someone screamed over the communications.
The pilot just managed to fix his attention to his left when a swarm of tentacles covered his sight, the legs of the creatures tore through the machine armor; the Exo mechanical arms tried in vain to dislodge the monsters. Sounds of metal creaking and breaking could be heard; the pain intensified to a point that the pilot was about to faint, multiple alarms rang inside the cockpit as the life support systems failed, the painkillers were cut off along with the transmission. Back in the launch platform, Samuel and Hector screamed at the top of their lungs and trembled in fear.
"Shut the hell up!" Yelled the captain.
"That is nothing, what you felt and saw is nothing, MARTA cut off most of the stimulus. While you guys were having dinner with you families, having a good time with your friends, jerking off or going down on your girlfriends, those pilots were going through hell"
The images of the last three days of the pilots came back on, they could see the faces of their family, their friends, their homes.
"This is what you will fight for, this is why you endure this pain and train every day, this is what you will die for. MARTA, show them some honor"
A fast list of names and faces flashed through their minds.
"Even before you were born, thousands those men and women went through hell and gave their lives so you could sleep safely at night"
The list kept going on, while the two young man remained silent. A few minutes later the list was over.
"Thats all for today, go back to the barracks. I expect you to do your training without any complain from now on. You better get used to MARTA's information downloads straight to your brain, the AI has become a vital part of our fighting capabilities nowadays, while they usually go inactive during active combat, the nerds at development and investigation have created a new AI battle assisted system that seems to be very effective, we will test it soon"
The two men got off their machines, the way they walked reflected the side effects of the stimulants, however, this time, they didn't complain at all. They made it to the barracks and to their rooms, Samuel stood still, naked, looking at the Executioner toy model in his night table until the hypersensitivity of his skin wore off and he could finally take a shower.
A few hours later he two men when to the mesh hall.
"The captain gave explicit orders that none of you can leave this place until you eat all of your food" one of the workers serving them warned.
The two men sat at the table in silence and forced the food down their mouth until their tray was clean without saying a word.
Francis and Captain Virna observed the two young men from afar. The captain turned to face Francis.
"Now they are ready to be pilots"