Age of Cosmic Exploration Chapter 196

Jerry slapped himself. The jolt woke him up.

Of course, he wasn’t a masochist; he had a bug as big as two palms sucking his blood on his face. The slap crushed it into a mess of guts, and blood splattered all over his face.

The jungle’s insects were unusually huge, caused by some unknown reason. One speculation said that during the dinosaur era, the insects on Earth were unusually big as well. Their size had something to do with the amount of oxygen concentration in the air. Apparently, the thicker the oxygen concentration, the bigger the creatures’ size.

Jerry had learned of such knowledge in the books, but reality and theory were two different things!

For example, it might not cause much panic to happen across a mosquito that is the size of one’s finger in real life, but a mosquito that is 2 palms big, now that is hair-raisingly scary.

Incidentally, bugs that were more than 2 palms big were hiding in every corner of the jungle. A few of them were like leeches; they lived off of blood. It was unknown whether they sucked other creatures’ blood or if human blood was especially tasty to them.

Because of that, the troopers who had already removed their helmets put them back on after they stepped a bit deeper into the forest. Their bodies were fully covered, not a surface exposed. This carried on for 3 days and 3 nights. Even though the space armor had an impressive battery life, it couldn’t support continuous 24-hour activation. They made some calculations in their heads and realized that the wastage couldn’t possibly go on. The power of the armor was kept open during the day, but when they went to sleep at night, the suit powered down and the helmet had to be removed, or they would die from suffocation. Because of this, the troopers had developed a unique sleeping pattern. Following team leader Haweza’s lead, they took some leaves and branches to smother their faces, leaving only 2 nostrils exposed when they slept.

Jerry was particularly unlucky that day. The leaves that covered his face had fallen off during the night. Half of his face was stung by an unknown insect and it was bloated, making it difficult for him to even speak.

Luckily, his immune system had already been upgrade by the Ultimate Vaccine. By afternoon, the swelling on his face subsided. However, this did help raise the alarm among the troopers. Haweza’s advice that the Black Star Troopers had to be alert even during their sleep was forever imprinted in their minds.

That afternoon, the unit took down a 15-meter-long, 3-meter-wide gigantic creature with their cooperation. The creature was a crawling mammal with many legs. When Haweza cut open the creature and was in the middle of explaining its internal organs to the troopers, Jerry finally asked, "Leader, is the bulk of our training rolling around in the mud and battling these huge creatures and bugs? Shouldn’t we practice marching? I remember watching the Defense Unit marching all day long when they were on the Hope…"

Haweza was taken aback and explained with a smile after he cut out a fatty, white-colored piece of meat, "But we’re the Black Star Troopers, they’re the Defense Unit; we’re completely different entities."

Another new trooper asked, "What’s the difference? Aren’t we both in the Barracks?"

Haweza pointed at his space armor and said, "The difference is this."

Then he picked up his sawblade and added, "This is also the difference."

Lastly, he pointed at the 14 people around him, saying, "All these are the differences."

"We are Homo Evolutis, do you know what that means? Not immense power or great status; for me, it only means one thing: the duty to protect mankind!

"We are the most powerful group of people among all human beings. With great power comes great responsibility. You must have heard of this line from books or movies; you might even think it’s laughable, but that is the lesson I want all of you to learn."

Haweza raised his voice. "During the war with mother nest, who was the first to engage them in combat? It was us, the Black Star Troopers! Who were the ones caught in close combat with the alien monsters? It was us, the Black Star Troopers! Who came along to save the day when the war was almost lost? It was us, the Black Star Troopers! We are steel, we are unstoppable, we are humanity’s saviors, and we must be fearless!"

Haweza paused and pointed at a young soldier. "Peter, you’re most afraid of blood, but look at you now. You can eat bloody, uncooked meat without fear! Barnon, your phobia is bugs and insects. Now? You can squish them up and throw them into your mouth!

And you, you, you…

"Every single one of you are evolving! Do you realize that? Every day you’re evolving into your better self. Plus, you will only appreciate civilization when you’re away from one! Let me ask you: do you wish for a warm bath now? Take off your sweaty space armor and wade into a pool of warm water. After that, lie down on a comfortable mattress, without the fear of dangerous creatures and annoyance of giant bugs. Finally, a good night's sleep. Do you wish for that?"

14 men replied in unison, "Of course!"

Haweza nodded. "Me too. Then do you know who gave us all of these luxuries? Not Captain Yao Yuan. Of course, his leadership has done wonders for humanity and we will be forever grateful for that, but he isn’t omnipotent. He has many things to handle, and he can only take care of things that are on a bigger scale. With an understanding look, he will instill us with hope, but what about all these everyday warmths? Who gave us that?"

The troopers gave all kinds of answers; some said parents, others job, some even went as far as saying H-coins. Haweza waited until they finished before he announced, "Everything that you all have said can be summarized into one thing… Human civilization!

"We human are communal creatures. We can’t survive in isolation, because we’ll be eaten alive by loneliness. And none of us is omnipotent. We need each other to ensure the continuity of humanity, so the one that gave us everything is human civilization!"

Haweza took another pause and he gritted his teeth as he continued, "Therefore, it falls unto our shoulders as Black Star Troopers to protect human civilization from all threats. This is a duty that we must complete even when our lives are at stake! Understood, kiddos? Now you all understand what bravery is and are no longer afraid of this forest. You have also learned how to listen to orders unquestioningly, but you still do not understand the weight of the responsibility on your shoulders.

We are humanity’s last line of defense! Behind us are several tens of thousands of people, and they are the arc that will ensure the continuity of humanity. For your families, your parents, the people that you love, and people that love you, even if the order tells you to die, you have to die!"

There was a hint of viciousness that entered Haweza’s voice when he continued. "I hope you remember the tale that I’ve told you about when Major Guang Zhen personally executed a Black Star Trooper. I was just standing behind him then. If Major Guang Zhen didn’t do what he did, the Barracks would be greatly disappointed. Thankfully, Major Guang Zhen did what he did. It was better than I expected, it was wonderful. That is how humanity’s last line of defense should act! You’ve been warned. I can stand for any mistake except abandoning the team during battle. Don’t ever be a deserter.

"Or else don’t blame my sawblade!"

His words gave the troopers quite a shock. They were silent the whole afternoon. They lied on a grass field cocooned in their own thoughts. A young trooper by the name of Peter sidled up to Jerry. He whispered, "Jerry, I heard your father is a scientist."

Jerry nodded. "You heard right. He is working on something related to new raw materials."

Peter commented, "My father is just a regular government servant, currently employed by the House of Representatives. But I guess I should count myself lucky. Every night when my father came back from work, he would bring myself, my mother, and my sister to the late night cinema. He would always complain about the film being shown, like how they were always the selected few, but he would sit through them just the same. Right, my sister is 5 years old now, and she was born on the Hope…"

Jerry replied enviously, "That’s wonderful. I wish I had a sister myself, but I can’t say I have it worse than you. Yes, my parents are a bit set in their ways, so much so that I couldn’t stand living under the same roof as them, but now that I think about it, I wouldn’t swap them for anyone else…"

"Yes, the Hope is a very good place now…"

Peter suddenly sat up straight, and he said seriously, "I want to be a qualified Black Star Trooper, I want to protect my family, so Jerry, will you be my witness. If the day comes when I falter from this ideal, I want you to cut me down with a slash!" He extended his balled fist at Jerry.

Jerry was silent before he too raised his fist and bumped it with Jerry’s. The clash created a tingling metallic sound that attracted everyone’s attention.

"I promise you, but I hope you will do the same for me as well."

"Okay!"

"We are steel! We are mankind’s enemies’ biggest nightmare! We will fight for humanity! We are fearless!"

Chapter end