Chapter 5

“Impressive Coeus, very impressive.”

“Why thank you Gregory, I do so take pride in this one.”

“Yes I can see that you do, however the meeting is to begin shortly. I will meet you there; I need to take a few moments to prepare myself. Have the subject ready by then.”

“But of course, I’ll have Ethan get him ready,”

Coeus turned to Ethan and gave him nod. Ethan knew exactly what the doctor wanted from him, so without a word he exited the observation room and headed toward the test chamber. He fumbled with the controls as he rushed to get the door open. He hurried into the room and quickly released Kaz’s constraints. Kaz fell to his knees. Sweat poured from his forehead down to his nose then chin and finally into a fast forming puddle on the ground in front of him. Labored breathes escaped his lungs. Every muscle in his body was tensed. He slowly raised his head toward Ethan who was standing in front of him. He gave Ethan a very weak smile.

“Was…that…all?”

Ethan let out a sigh of relief then smiled back at Kaz sympathetically. He threw one of Kaz’s arms over his shoulder and helped him up.

“I’m glad to see your ok, that looked a little rough.”

“No…way. I’m…as…strong…as nails.”

Kaz nearly fell as Ethan helped him to the door. Ethan stopped for a moment to allow Kaz to catch his breath.

“Kaz I don’t want to rush you, I know you’re tired, but there is an important meeting in about thirty minutes that I have to get you ready for.”

Kaz nodded his head and started to walk. Ethan silently helped him all the way back to his room. When they got there, after what seemed to Kaz to be an eternity, Ethan walked Kaz into the washroom. Ethan sat Kaz down on a bench in the shower then turned the water on. Ethan turned to Kaz with a smile.

“Okay, you wash up. I'm going to get your clothes ready and I'll be waiting for you outside.”

“Thanks. Do I have time to get something to eat before we go? I’m really hungry.”

“Yea I’ll get something for you while you’re in the shower.”

“Thanks man.”

Ethan nodded then turned around and left the shower. Kaz sat for a minute to gather
his strength. He leaned against the wall to help himself to his feet. He peeled off the body suit he was in. It stuck to his skin like saran wrap. Slowly he walked under the running water. As soon as the water hit his skin a well of steam erupted from his body. He braced himself against the wall in front of him. He gave a sigh of relief as he felt all the muscles in his body begin to relax. He decided to just let the water wash over him. After a few minutes of his much needed reprieve, he walked out of the shower into his room to find Ethan standing by the bed with yet another body suit and a tray covered by a silver dome.

“You look a lot better.”

“Yea, I feel a lot better. Is that breakfast?!”

Kaz rubbed his hands together and grinned delight fully. Ethan noticed his eagerness and decided not the let the poor guy wait any longer. He wore a proud smile as he lifted the metal dome on the tray to reveal Kaz’s breakfast.

“Bon appetite!”

As Kaz locked his eyes onto the plate his jaw dropped right along with his heart. He looked Ethan right in the eyes with a very displeased look.

“Ethan…what the hell is that?”

Ethan looked confused for a moment. He looked down at the plate, then back at Kaz. Not sure of what the problem was he stared back at Kaz with a blank look on his face. Noticing Kaz was looking considerably disappointed he decided to ask.

“What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?! Please tell me you’re kidding? What exactly is that supposed to be?"

Kaz pointed to the plate in front of him. Ethan scratched his head bewildered.

“Umm…It’s your breakfast.”

“It’s a damn protein bar Ethan! A protein bar! There’s not a damn thing breakfast about that!”

“Oh. Well it’s all I could find. I almost forgot.”

Ethan reached into his lab coat and pulled out a fruit punch flavored sports drink. He put it on the tray next to the protein bar.

“Here you go. I’m told that brand or bar is really dry, so this should wash it down.”

Kaz picked up the protein bar and the drink. Sullenly he stared down at the "breakfast" in his hands. He looked up at Ethan, mouth agape then back down at the floor. He muttered to himself.

“I don’t even like fruit punch.”

“What Kaz, did you say something?”

Still looking down Kaz just shook his head slowly. Ethan looked him up and down for a moment then shrugged his shoulders. He looked at his watch and let out an awkward shriek.

“Kaz we have to go now. We don’t want to be late. Put on your suit and you will just have to eat your breakfast on the way.”

Upon hearing the word breakfast, Kaz imagined beating Ethan with his sports drink bottle. He basked in the thought for a moment but was drawn back to reality as he felt Ethan pushing him towards the bed. He set aside his meal for the moment and started to put on his body suit. He noticed this was slightly different from all the other suits he wore. It felt far denser than the others. It also had an oval shape cut right in the center of the chest area. He touched his bare chest.

“What’s this for?”

“That, I’m not sure to tell you truth. The doctor had it designed specifically for this demonstration.”

“I have been meaning to ask, what is this demonstration for anyway?”

Ethan walked towards the door as Kaz finished putting on the body suit. He motioned with his hands for Kaz to follow him. Kaz followed him to the door and then down the hall.

“As far as I know the doctor and his boss, or colleague or whatever he is, Mr. Richards is making a deal with some new weapons development company.”

“Weapons?”

“Yea, they are some new private organization based out of Japan. Apparently they have some new technology that is supposed to revolutionize ground combat. It’s supposed to make soldiers into super soldiers or something. I don’t really know the details.”

“And I guess they want to test it on me right.”

“That’s the idea”

“But I don’t get it. This doesn’t seem to be the kind of thing I normally do. I mean, I’m not a soldier.”

“True, but for lack of a better word you are a super powered guinea pig. And testing on you would probably be safer than testing on someone normal.”

Kaz shook his head. He stopped with Ethan in front of a reinforced door similar to the one on the testing room. Ethan started to take his key card out of his pocket. Before he opened the door he looked over at Kaz.

“I’m sure it will all be ok. You have handled much more than this in the past so this should be a walk in the park for you.”

“I don’t even know what it is I’m about to get into, how do you know it’s going to be a walk in the park.”

Ethan stopped and thought to himself for a second.

“Good point.”

Ethan swiped his key card against the terminal next to the door. The metal door slid to the side revealing the demonstration room. Kaz’s eyes opened wide. He had never seen this room before. As he walked through the door he looked at all the equipment that filled this hanger sized room. There were guns of several shapes and sizes along one wall. Along another were vehicles that ranged from scooters to a tank. The center of the room was filled with walls made of different materials, sand bags, hills, dips, and trenches. From the ceiling hung ropes, zip wires, and turrets. There was an obstacle course and what seemed like a maze at the other end of the room. Kaz turned to Ethan who was sharing a similar sense of amazement.

“Ethan…what is this place?”

“It’s the battle test room. This is where they do the weapons testing for all the equipment developed by the company.”

“It’s huge.”

“I know, I’m impressed every time I walk in here. Come on, everyone is waiting.”

The door began to close behind them. Kaz felt an ominous chill run down his spine has the heard the door lock.