Chapter 1

            Gavin St. Cloud sat reclined in a plush office chair in front of a 24-inch monitor; intent on the action unfolding as brilliant flashes and rendered figures flew across the screen.  In his right hand was an optical mouse, and the left was the keyboard, his tools of the trade.  A quick hit of the tab key revealed his s/n, Aether sitting in the number two spot.  His opponent, in the number one spot, was good, obviously on a T1 line or better.  His reaction times were blindingly fast, which meant either or both of two things; he was using a top-of-the-line computer or he was just that good.

            The round ended, and the map changed.  The command line revealed bunker_command.map being loaded.  Good, Gavin thought, one of my favorite maps.  The monitor flickered briefly as the new map was loaded up and the camera did a fly-by through the map quickly as it waited for players to join.  The map was an installation style map, with sharp turns, blind corners, ventilation ducts, no less than 3 back doors to every location, and no limit to dark corners for the campers.  This was Gavin’s favorite map, and he usually schooled any and all opposition on it.  Or he would have been, if it weren’t for the player named Slayer_One.

            Slayer_One had been one step ahead of Gavin all evening, but Gavin had finally closed the gap to one kill.  Now it was going to be Gavin’s turn to take the lead.  The Cyber Café was going to close in fifteen minutes, just enough time to run this last map.  Gavin adjusted the microphone so that his teammates could here him clearly, and waited for the countdown to finish. 

            Selecting his favorite weapon of choice, the game’s incredibly high-powered sniper rifle, Gavin took off for his first point.  His teammates knew by now his ways, and left him to his own.  The first point was a nook in a dark corner above a junction of pipes.  The junction was located directly across from hallway.  Players ran past this area not even checking the corners.  Gavin promptly scored his first set of kills, boosting him to the #1 spot.

            The enemy players had grown wise to his position and were planning a counterstrike.  Gavin saw this coming and was hiding in the ventilation ducts above by the time the opposite team charged the corner.  All the attackers met the fate of their comrades. 

            Checking the leader board, Gavin was shocked to see Slayer_One had taken nearly a 10-kill lead over him.  Furious, Gavin switched to a full-auto weapon and began wholesale slaughter of the unfortunate enemy team.  Gavin methodically eliminated the opposing force and was drastically reducing that round’s players.  After three minutes it was down to Gavin, and Slayer_One.  Now came the true game.

            Unsure of where his enemy might be lurking, Gavin realized he had never even met his rival face to face in any of the rounds they had played.  Slayer_One had been on the opposite team, yet Gavin had never seen him.  Gavin hadn’t even any idea of his rival’s play style.  The player might be a run-and-gun, a camper, a close combat specialist, or any of the above.  Gavin decided to be extremely cautious.  Time was running out though, so he would have to move quickly.

            The lower levels were clean, and Gavin continued working his way upward.  So far, there had been no sign of the mysterious Slayer_One.  Finally Gavin reached the top level of the installation and began working the floor.  He came around the corner to stare right into Slayer_One’s rifle.  Gavin swore and mashed the jump key.  Pounding the keyboard, Gavin ducked and hopped his way back into cover while gunfire ripped through the corridor. 

Gavin switched to the all-purpose short-range combat weapon, the shotgun and waited a breath.  Then turned and tore headlong down the passage, spraying shots from his weapon every so often.  But the hallway was empty.  There was nothing, no trace of Slayer_One.  Gavin panicked and spun around to see Slayer_One hiding in the ducting next to the door and going for the kill.  Gavin reacted quicker, and in one swift motion, slammed the keys to switch weapons to the sniper rifle, pull up the crosshairs and click the mouse.  In less than a second, before Slayer_One could even aim, Gavin had switched weapons and fired a round into Slayer_One’s mask, granting a “Head Shot” kill and making Gavin winner of the round. 

Gavin sighed in relief and exhaustion, basking in his victory.  He called over the mic to his opponent, “Good game.  It was nice to have a challenge for a change.”  But no reply came.  Gavin sighed and signed off from the Cyber Café’s computer.  It was late, near 2 in the morning, and he was tired.  He’d been playing since before dinner.  A night’s sleep would do him a world of good.  So he paid the cashier at the Café and went to his apartment, collapsing into his bed, asleep the moment his head touched the pillow.  It had been a good night.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Slayer_One stood and stretched.  He had passed the first test.  Now to find him.  Slayer_One walked over to the phone and punched in a number.  “Hello?  Yes…I found one.  Yes…excellent skill this one, he beat me.  Yes, I know you said it was bound to happen sooner or later, so stop laughing already, will you?  I need you to find the screen name ‘Aether’.  Yes, that’s right.  Hmm?  God of Air?  I didn’t know that.  Well, see what you can dig up.  Yes, thanks, goodbye.” 

Slayer_One put the phone back into the cradle and sat in his favorite chair and brooded.  The windows were open letting in the refreshing breeze.  The South Pacific stretched on into the daylight, a shimmering cobalt blue.  Slayer_One smiled, nobody had ever beaten him before.  This was a first.  Slayer_One felt confident that his new candidate would be perfect for their needs.  Finally, they would be getting another pilot. 

            “Gavin St. Cloud?” the man said rigidly.  Gavin had been up early the next morning for work, and so now was completely exhausted.  All Gavin wanted was to be able to fall into his apartment, and slink into his bed.  It was a simple want, and so an incredibly persistent want.  Unfortunately, this large man in the plain suit was barring Gavin’s way, completely blocking the door. 

            “Yes, that’s me…can I help you?” Gavin said with more than a hint of irritation.  Last night’s gaming session had been looking more and more like a mistake as the day had progressed.  A person needs sleep, it’s a simple fact.  Gavin knew this, and yet, had worked a full day’s work on less than 3 hours.  Patience, Gavin had noted in the past, was the first thing to leave when one got tired. 

            “Sir, I need you to come with me.  It’s going to be an ‘extended’ trip so you will need to pack heavy.  I will be waiting here for you.  Please do not try to leave,” said the man as he took off his expensive sunglasses and tucked them in a coat pocket. 

            “What’s this all about?  I can’t simply just leave…I have a job and stuff that needs to be done.”

            “The job has been taken care of, and I am not allowed to disclose details at this time, sir.  Rest assured, you are able to leave.  But time is short, we need to be leaving soon.”

            “Not until you tell me what’s going on,” Gavin’s anger was starting to boil.

            “It’s about a new job.  Is that sufficient?  As I said I’m not allowed to discuss details,” the man looked hard at Gavin.  Gavin was crossing a fine line with this man.  The prospect of a new job was intriguing as well.  Gavin thought better of arguing and proceeded to go inside his apartment and pack what few possessions he had.

            The strange man followed Gavin into the apartment.  He peered around at the shabby interior and grunted to himself, as if satisfied by what he saw.  Gavin found this incredibly irritating, but forced himself to find his only suitcase. 

            “Can I ask your name, or is that considered a detail as well?” Gavin asked as he pulled his suitcase out from under the bed.

            The man grunted, “Masters, Frank Masters.”

            “Alright Mr. Bond,” Gavin said sarcastically, “Can you tell me anything about this new job?  What I’m going to be doing?  How much I’ll be paid?”

            “I can’t give you full details Mr. St. Cloud, but I can tell you it’s a chance of a lifetime…if it works out that is,” Masters seemed to relish the pause.

            “If it works out?  What do you mean by that?” Gavin asked, growing even more suspicious.

            “Like all jobs, Mr. St. Cloud, there is an interview for the position.  If you pass the interview, you get hired.  That simple.”  Gavin felt like he was back in high school and in front of a teacher he didn’t particularly care for.

            “So what happens if I fail the interview?”

            “Nothing.  You come home, and pretend this never happened,” the man said stoically.  Gavin had a hunch the man wasn’t being entirely truthful.  “If you would hurry up?  We are running on a rather tight schedule.”  Masters hadn’t even looked at his watch.

            Gavin finished pulling the last of his odds and ends into the now overstuffed suitcase and zipped it shut.  Masters grabbed the baggage with ease and walked out the door.  Gavin, unsure of why, quickly locked the door to his apartment, and hustled after Masters.

            Masters grabbed Gavin’s suitcase with ease and flung it into the waiting trunk, and then impatiently motioned Gavin towards the rear seat.  Gavin opened the door and got in.  Masters took the driver’s seat and started the engine.  The man said nothing as he pulled away from the curb and set on down the street. 

Gavin shot a quick glance out the rear window towards his apartment trying to remember if he had forgotten anything important, but instead, what he saw made him panic.  A nondescript moving truck had pulled into the spot the car had left, and men were already carrying Gavin’s couch down the front steps towards the moving truck.

“What the hell is going on here?  They’re taking my stuff!!” Gavin burst out.

“I told you, Mr. St. Cloud, everything has been taken care of.”

“I didn’t agree to this!  You never said anything about this!  Stop the car…stop the car right now and tell me what the hell is going on!”  Masters did not respond and continued driving.  Gavin, enraged, pulled the door handle planning on jumping from the vehicle, but it was locked.  He then flung himself at Masters, but instead cracked his head on an incredibly clear plate that separated front from back, Gavin hadn’t even seen it. 

“Are you finished?” Masters quipped as Gavin tried to clear the stars from his vision.  “And don’t start screaming that I am kidnapping you either…that will just piss me off.  You agreed to come along.  Now if you don’t mind, please be quiet the rest of the trip.”

“Agree?  I didn’t agree to anything like this,” Gavin said raggedly.

Masters turned partially so that he could look at Gavin, “I don’t make promises easily or quickly.  I find they are too troublesome.  They require trust and effort, and most people either don’t realize this or don’t understand the concepts to begin with.  But I am telling you now, since Trust seems to be an issue, that once we get to where we are going, you will be given the answers to your questions,” and with that Masters turned fully towards the front leaving Gavin to stare at the man’s back.

The car ride had ended at a rinky-dink airport outside the city limits.  It was small and seemed vacant.  There were no cars in the lots, no people milling by the baggage cars, nothing.  It was run-down and shabby.  Gavin was surprised that the lights were still working.  With the sun setting, they would be needed.

Masters pulled the car next to a hangar that had holes covered over in tacked-on sheet metal, and then another sheet tacked on over that.  It was covered in rust and dirt.  From a distance it looked tiny, not any bigger than a house, but Gavin realized that the hangar was actually quite large as he was let out of the car.  Masters, not skipping a beat, pulled out Gavin’s suitcase and began walking towards the rear of the hangar. 

Gavin followed him to a small wooden door imbedded in the back corner.  Masters opened it and walked in without knocking.  Gavin’s jaw fell open when he saw the inside.  Completely different than its outward appearance, the inside was all but shabby.  The place was cleaned and loaded with high-end electronics and machinery.  Bright lights hanging from racks shone down illuminating the place and all that was inside.  The outer walls were cluttered with equipment racks, and machines.  Gavin didn’t spend much time looking at those.  He did stare at the machine in the center however.  An aircraft the likes of which Gavin had never seen. 

It seemed military and civilian all rolled into one; built for aesthetics and function.  Graceful curves ran to meet engine intakes, flat polished surfaces carrying the thin lines of retractable panels.  The plane itself was odd to begin with.  The wings were far back of centerline for a craft that size, and thus were extremely wide at the base, running from tail to just aft of center.  They were also arranged high; at the top of the fuselage with the inner line of the wings running straight back forming the tail.  The tail itself was odd, not just one fin, but actually a bar that connected the two spikes running back from the wings, with a rectangular-shaped rudder on the outside of the wing-spike on each side, also connected by the bar. 

“Quit gawking and close the door, your letting the light escape,” Masters admonished.  Gavin did as he was told, not sure what he was really doing, and feeling quite out of place.  A worry sprung up in the back of Gavin’s mind, a thorn that although small, refused to go away no matter how hard Gavin tried to brush it form his thoughts.

“The door is up towards the front on the left side,” Masters pointed.  “Get on board and make yourself comfortable, the flight will be a long one.”  Gavin made his way towards the front of the large aircraft and saw that a panel on the side of the plane had been opened and had steps on the backside allowing for easy access to the aircraft passenger compartment from ground level.  Just outside the door, Gavin spotted a logo on the hull.  It was a globe surrounded by olive branches inscribed on a shield with the letters ‘EDF’ below the globe.  Gavin wasn’t sure what it was for, but it seemed hopeful and reassuring to him.  After glancing at it a moment, Gavin made his way up the stairs into the plane.

There was a spiral staircase that led up into the main passenger compartment.  The compartment reminded Gavin of a commercial airlines type setup.  Definitely First Class,” he remarked as he chose a plush seat.  It was comfortable and spacious.  He tilted it back, and a foot rest popped up.

“Now this, I could get used too,” Gavin smirked as Masters came up the spiral stairs and looked at him. 

“Glad you approve,” said Masters as disappeared into the front of the plane, to the cockpit area. 

Soon after, Gavin heard engines begin to wind up.  Gavin suddenly realized he had not seen any engines on the craft.  Normally craft this size have the engines slung under the wings, big enough to allow a person to stand upright in the intake, but Gavin had seen no such thing - only the giant wings.  Again the thorn in Gavin’s mind itched – warning him that something here was not quite right.  Before Gavin could think on it further, Masters came back and took a seat opposite Gavin.

“This is some spiffy plane, is it mine?” Gavin asked with a hint of amusement from his reclined position.

“Mr. St. Cloud, I believe you should get some rest.  It is a very long flight, and you look exhausted.  You shouldn’t play so late on a weeknight if you can’t handle the stress.”

Gavin sat bolt upright, a look of outrage on his face.  Not only had this man known what Gavin had been doing the night before, but had even insulted him on it!  Gavin was about to start shouting again, his anger boiling, when Masters held up a hand.

“Calm down.  I meant no offense.  At the end of the flight you will get your answers, so please be patient.  But in all seriousness, you should get some rest.  You will need it for the interview.”

Gavin thought that over a moment and then said, “Fine, but tell me one thing first.  What was that logo on the outside of the plane?  I’ve never seen it before.”

“That would be your employer.  And that is all the information I am going to give you Mr. St. Cloud.  See you in the morning,” and Masters reclined his chair, draped his coat over his face, and after a few moments, soft snores could be heard over the rumble of the engines. 

“You,” Gavin sighed, “are absolutely useless.  How the hell am I supposed to go to sleep wound this tight?  Hell, I don’t even know if I’m still over my own country, who knows how fast this crazy jet flies.” 

Gavin awoke with a start.  The aircraft was not flying, but falling.  He was being lifted from his chair by the freefall.  As his senses rushed back from the deep sleep he had been in, he heard Masters calling him, forceful, but not panicked.  Gavin looked over at the man, and saw him motioning to a restraining arm above his head.  Gavin looked up and was startled to see the device just sitting there.  Gavin hadn’t even noticed it had been there when he had taken his seat.  On closer inspection, he saw that the arm had been lowered from the ceiling and attached to the shoulder sections of the chair.  Flailing a bit in the reduced gravity, Gavin quickly lowered the restraint.  He felt it click in place, and then little cushions constrict to a snug fit automatically.

Gavin heard Masters from the side, “Landings here are a blast, aren’t they?!  Due to various circumstances here, we have to descend rapidly.  I keep telling people this should be an amusement park ride, but nobody listens to me.”

Gavin hadn’t heard that tone of voice from the usual monotone Frank Masters.  But clearly, the man was enjoying every second of the near free-fall conditions.  Gavin was just glad he hadn’t had anything to eat in a while, or else he was sure he’d be getting reacquainted with his food.

The freefall only lasted a few seconds more, and Gavin was sure it was only a few seconds after that when the tires touched concrete.  Gavin expected rolling, but the plane was completely stopped.  Just sitting on the tarmac, not rolling, no taxiing; just stopped.  Gavin was completely dumbfounded.  This plane was like none he had ever seen before or ridden on. 

“It’s called a V/TOL aircraft – Vertical Takeoff or Landing,” Masters answered Gavin’s unspoken question.  “You looked like a monkey doing a math problem.  Figured I’d ease your pain,” Masters laughed.

“Vertical, you mean like those Harrier jets on TV?”

“Same concept.  But this craft uses a different take on the theory and has much more power.  So no stability issues, and this craft actually is overpowered, so it lands like a snowflake.”

“Really,” Gavin said without really understanding what the man had said.

Masters opened the hatch to the side, and Gavin was assaulted by a warm breeze smelling strongly of salt and oil.  Bright sunlight filled the outside.  Masters disappeared into the light.  Gavin stumbled out the door at the sight – he was staring at a magnificent blue sky of a hue Gavin had never seen in the city.  White fluffy clouds floated like opaque diamonds in the sunlight. 

The plane had landed on a helicopter landing pad.  It had a reflective surface that sparkled and shone, his own reflection staring wide-eyed back at him.  Looking about, Gavin saw that the helicopter pad was part of a massive floating structure surrounded on all sides by ocean.  There was no land in sight, only waves, sky, and clouds. 

The entire structure was made of the reflective mirror-like material.  It reflected everything but heat.  The mirror-surface was cool to the touch, and the sun’s reflection held only mild, pleasant warmth.  At first glance, the place was massive.  But then Gavin realized that half of what the surrounding area he thought was ocean was actually more of the structure.  The surfaces reflecting the ocean gave a near perfect camouflage to the place.

Masters removed his sunshades from his pockets and placed them on his head.  He walked over to a mirror and flipped open a hidden patch that revealed a handle beneath.  He turned the handle, and a large section of mirror fell inward, and slid out to the side revealing a pathway.

“Welcome to ARC, Mr. St. Cloud.  Please follow me.”