"I have not invested so much only to discover our new weapon is unable to handle battlefield conditions!" -General Veers
James tore off the VR helmet, his forehead beaded with droplets of cold sweat.
In the simulation, he had just walked Violet back to the hospital from the quarry and promised to see her tomorrow. He had kissed her goodnight. His day's work finished, he stood in the Hangar's annex. VR helmet in hand and surrounded by computers and cabling, he walked to where Dr. Korlov was sitting, typing on a computer.
"She is changing!" James said trying to hold back his panic. "This isn't her! She is kind and gentle, what have you done?"
Dr. Korlov looked over his computer screen at James.
"My dear boy, what did you expect? The whole purpose of this project is to change her so she could be used as a weapon!"
James shook his head, "I thought she was going to swallow me! She doesn't want to be a monster but that's exactly what you are turning her into!" He slammed the VR helmet onto the doctor's desk.
"James," Dr. Korlov began, smiling warmly. He had been patient with the boy since the beginning and now was not the time to stop. "I haven't done anything to Violet. All we have done is put her in situations and she is making choices. She is trying to come to terms with what she has become...she is...experimenting." Dr. Korlov stood up and took James by the shoulder. "You are the linchpin James! She could very easily spiral out of control, losing all touch with her humanity. The general only cares about function; make the tank run, make the gun fire. We know differently. If she were to loose her moral center..." Dr. Korlov glanced at the floor seeing a crawling bug. "If she did that, we might as well get used to being nothing but this." He stepped on the bug to illustrate his point. "James, she loves you and I know you feel the same way about her." James blushed at this. "We need you to help Violet to hold on to who she is...who you know she is." Dr. Korlov smiled and gave James a pat on the back before going back to his computer.
James walked back to his barracks. One of the perks to his assignment was having a lot of privacy. He had lied about his age and enlisted being only 16 years old. Adjusting to army life had not been easy and he jumped at the opportunity presented by this 'special assignment.'
It had only been a week but his whole world had changed. In the hangar at the far end of the runway, they were keeping a giant girl unconscious. He had barely wrapped his head around this fact when he was told she needed a friend! She was conscious in a simulation and he would interact with her through virtual reality. Frightened at first, he actually found Violet to be a wonderful and sweet girl. Under other circumstances he would have liked to have her as his girlfriend. He looked forward to his VR sessions and spending time with Violet. Acting was not required, he was simply himself. Dr. Korlov was right, he did have feelings for her, maybe even loved her. Being around a giantess had been surprisingly exciting and he did find himself fantasizing about her. Today was different, he could see that Violet was becoming more self assured but at whose expense?
Today was the last time he would see her through his VR helmet. He could see from his barrack's window that the base engineering battalion was busily working around Violet's hangar. She was being readied for transport. Dr. Korlov had told him that drugs would be administered to trick her body into returning to normal size. From there, she would be transported by ambulance to the town and hospital the simulation was modeled on not far away. Tomorrow morning she would wake up for real. Everything would now be very real.
He thought back to his terrifying experience in her hands at the quarry and also what Dr. Korlov had said. They may not see it, but James knew something wasn't right. It wasn't fair to put so much on his shoulders, he thought. But he also cared deeply about Violet, she will need him and he would be there for her.
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Violet awoke and stretched. She felt like she had been sleeping for days. One of the nurses had entered her room and, seeing her awake, she began a conversation.
"Congratulations, you're being discharged!"
"What?" It took a moment for her to fully understand what this meant.
"All the paperwork is finished, we are just waiting for your ride."
Violet had so many questions, first on her mind though was James. How can she leave without saying goodbye!
An hour later and she sat on the edge of the bed silently with her bag next to her. A knock at the door! It was not James. Instead the general she first met weeks ago entered the room.
"Hello Violet," General Veers smiled down at her. "I am here to take you to a safe location. I want you to know I have spoken to your parents and they miss you and cannot wait to see you."
"My parents." Violet wondered what she would say when she finally saw them again. "What about James? He's my boyfr..." her voice trailed off to nothing as she looked down to the floor.
"Yes the nurses told me there was a young man," Violet's head shot up, her life hanging on the general's next words. "Here," he tossed her an old flip phone. "I am sorry but your family's numbers have been blocked for your safety, there is only one number that phone can call." The general gave her a wink. "The car is waiting downstairs." He left her again by herself. She opened the phone and looked at the saved contents. A feeling of relief and joy washed over her. The General was right, just one contact: James.
She rode in the back of the limousine with the general. "Staff car," he had corrected her.
"Thank you for the phone Sir." It had not left her hands since it had been given to her.
"My daughter would have been your age now..." Violet looked up at his words, the general was looking out the window lost in his own thought. He turned and smiled again at her. "This must be so very hard being away from your loved ones, I want you to know I will do all I can to make it easier. The men under my command would not believe you if you told them I have a softer side." He gave her a sly wink.
They arrived at a military base. It actually wasn't far at all from James's home or the town she had called home for the last few weeks. "No place safer." General Veers spoke as he passed his credentials to the guard at the entrance. The guard saluted and the staff car moved forward.
They came to a stop in front of a complex of low buildings. A runway stretched away to her left, she could see a series of hangars in the distance. She moved to exit but General Veers stayed seated. He leaned forward and spoke to her quietly. "I am aware of your condition. I am also aware of your extra-curricular activities two nights ago on county road 17." Violet's eyes widened. "My dear, it is my job to know these things, a 700ft teen flattening trucks only seven miles from my command..." His smile made Violet feel better. "Violet," he leaned in further. "I am a realist, how can I stop you if you wanted to continue such 'activities.' I only ask that you stay on base. The bomb range is 40 square miles and there is nothing you can hurt any more than does the ordinance that is normally expended there." He pointed down the road that ran parallel to the runway.
"Bomb range? Ordinance? Isn't it dangerous?" She asked as she followed his finger down the road.
"Very," he said in all seriousness. "No one in their right mind would go there for a holiday. Unexploded aerial bombs, artillery shells, air-dropped anti-personnel and anti-tank mines to name a few. But considering what you did to that truck the other night I doubt such firecrackers will bother you much if you happened across one." He saw the hint of a smile cross her lips. "Come now, my aide-de-camp will show you to your room...I think you have a phone call to make."
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The general entered the administration building as Violet was led to her quarters. Colonel Peters was waiting for him. "Is the range ready?" General Veers asked the colonel without stopping. "Yes sir, the monitoring station has been manned and the ordinance is being readied." Colonel Peters was now walking next to the general. "Sir, I have safety concerns..." At that, General Veers stopped and turned to the colonel.
"We need to know what she is capable of dealing with...Hannibal brought elephants over the Alps only to discover they were useless; frightened and easily stampeded by Roman trumpets. I have not invested so much only to discover our new weapon is unable to handle battlefield conditions!" General Veers turned and continued down the hallway.
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Violet couldn't wait to call James. He told her that a General named Veers had called him that night after their swim in the quarry. He told James that Violet would be discharged and kept safe. He also told James about the phone.
They talked for what seemed like hours. She told him what the general said about 'extra curricular activities' and how she needed to stay on base but she wanted to see James. "Let's not break the rules or his trust the first night Vi." James was right. "You should take him up on his offer exploring that bomb range. We can usually hear them bombing from our house so if I hear any explosions I'll know its you."
"Ok baby, I love you." Violet waited for James's response.
"...I love you too." She heard the click that ended the phone call.
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Her super suit was supposed to be fireproof, she was glad she brought it if the general's warnings proved correct. She was walking down the road as the general had directed. As she passed the far end of the runway she looked to her right at the row of hangars. They looked abandoned. Abandoned except for the last one. She could see lights on inside and a number of trucks were parked to its side. Men were loading crates into the trucks. It may be something to investigate later but for now she continued toward the bomb range.
The boundary to the bomb range was impossible to miss. A tall fence with warning signs that stretched off to her left and right with a locked gate crossing the road. "Locked," she wondered what she would do next. She suddenly laughed at herself realizing how simple the solution was. She closed her eyes feeling her body expand. Opening them, she looked down and saw the fence and barrier at her feet. She simply stepped over the tiny obstacle and continued into the bomb range.
It was not quite the moonscape she had envisioned. It was a combination of fields and woods, she actually found it to be beautiful. She felt free to explore, she uprooted a large Oak like picking a flower. She held it in her hand and examined it. A 100ft tall tree and she was holding it like a bouquet of flowers, it was still all very surreal. Dropping the tree with a crash, she continued her walk. At her height she could see the lights of James's home town in the distance. She thought of James.
An explosion rocked her heel. The sound caused her heart to skip a beat, her balance momentarily shaken. Catching her breath and looking down she could see a fresh crater next to her foot. A mine, large enough to disable a tank, it had startled Violet more than anything. "Just a firecracker," she told herself and she continued walking. Being able to use her power here was a relief. Lately, she was feeling more comfortable at her giant size than when she was like everyone else. When at her normal size, she found herself anticipating when she could grow once more. Another explosion under the ball of her right foot brought her out of her thoughts and back to the here and now. That one stung. "Perhaps I can..." Violet tried forming her force field but nothing appeared. She hadn't tried it before now and it would seem she couldn't use her other powers as a giant. Her super-suit seemed proof enough against what she had encountered so far.
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Lt. Walters watched the giantess through the coincidence rangefinder in a camouflaged observation bunker. Violet had actually walked right past it on her way to the bomb range without noticing. "Estimated target height: 800ft. Range to target: 4km." He reported his observations to Colonel Peters still back in the administration building's operations center.. Colonel Peters gave the order.
"Begin phase 1."
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Cruising at 48,000 ft, unseen and unheard from the ground, an orbiting fighter-bomber received the go-code. The pilot rolled the plane over into an attack run. The weaponeer in the rear seat could see his unusual target in his radar scope and pickled off two 500lbs bombs as the plane passed 40,000 ft. Moments later, Violet's lower legs and feet were suddenly engulfed in flame. The concussion almost knocked her to the ground. Straightening back up, she could see two craters straddling her, much larger than the craters the mines had created earlier. Looking down she marveled at the destruction: trees laid flat and burning, debris still falling around her feet. She also marveled at her lack of injury in the face of all this destruction. Lifting her leg she brushed away the soot and continued.
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"Impact, target at ground zero. No effect" Lt. Walters reported.
1000lbs of explosives and no effect, Colonel Peters radioed the range officer again. "Go with phase two."
18 miles from Violet, a battery of 175mm self-propelled guns swung their barrels in her direction.
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Violet looked around, everyone on the base must have heard those explosions. She waited but heard nor saw any sign of a response. She turned to continue her walk. At that moment the area from her left shoulder blade down to the small of her back erupted in detonations. She winced, two sharp pains shot through her. The feeling was not unlike that time she was hit by a baseball during gym class. More explosions around her feet. She gritted her teeth, "bigger." She felt herself expanding. A second volley stuck her, she barely noticed.
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Lt. Walters knew the range remained the same but the settings on his instrument had been maxed out. He grabbed a pencil and paper, wetting the pencil tip on his tongue he quickly worked out his calculations. He radioed Colonel Walters.
"Range to target: 4km. Estimated target height:..." he tried to swallow but his mouth went dry. He began again: "Estimated target height 2,800ft. Two salvos: direct hits. No effect."
Colonel Walters felt the General's test had gone far enough. He had the range officer on the radio and was about to tell him to stand down when General Veers walked into the operations room. Seeing what the Colonel was doing, the general tore the radio from the colonel's hand and gave a direct order to the range officer.
"This is General Veers, phase 3."
Less than 400 yards from where Violet stood, a nuclear 'physics package', its yield set to 0.1 kilotons, clicked from safe to arm.
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James, sitting in his private barracks, had heard the first set of explosions and knew what was happening. He had not been briefed on the specifics but he was worried about Violet. The sound of artillery came next.
"What are they thinking?!" He said out loud to no one. "If she gets wise to what they are doing she is going to come back here and snuff out this base like an anthill!" It was quiet for a long moment. Looking out the window, James saw a distant flash that momentarily lit the sky like midday. This was followed by a thunderous boom that rattled the barrack's windows and shook the dust from the rafters. James watched and waited.
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Lt. Walters had closed the bunker's steel shutters only just in time. For less than a microsecond, a miniature sun, only a few feet across, briefly sat on the earth's surface. The lieutenant both heard and felt the shockwave a moment later. He paused, took a deep breath, and opened the shutters. Looking through his binoculars he could only see a column of dust and smoke rising where the target had stood.
He had been thoroughly trained in this particular low yield nuclear demolition device: everything within 75 yards of ground zero should be glass, 400 yards beyond that, buildings would be rubble, and everything within a mile should be burning. He watched incredulously as a shadow within the dust cloud sat up and then got to its feet. Through his binoculars he could see the girl, half a mile tall, standing and unharmed. She was brushing herself off and looking around as if she had done nothing more than fallen and was searching the ground for whatever had tripped her.
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"Lt. Walters reporting." The connection was full of static due to the bomb's electromagnetic discharge. "Seismic measurements show 0.1kt nominal yield. No effect on target."
The general turned to leave the room.
"Operations this is Lt. Walters." His voice was cracking. General Veers stopped, looking back at the radio.
"Target is returning to base! Repeat target is returning to base!" Through the residual static, the whole operations room could hear on Lt. Walters end a rhythmic thumping like the impact of distant artillery.
"Footsteps." Colonel Peters clarified.
"Lt. Walters here," there was no longer any military discipline in his voice. "I can see her." His voice was being drowned out by the footfalls, now almost deafening on his end of the connection. "She looks angry, Jesus! She is heading straight for the base! She is..." the connection with the lieutenant had been lost.
General Veers left the operations room without a word. He would meet her outside.