Somewhere in Death Valley

03 Nov

April 23rd, 2012

Patrick McShane shuffled a MRE between two other soldiers, taking a break between bites to drink from the EverCool canteen.  He marvelled at the ice cold water in his mouth despite the stifling heat, and closed his normally vivid and intense green eyes. Finally swallowing, he stuffed another bite of stale canned peaches into his mouth trying desperately not to gag.

“You would think with all the new technology, they’d get us food that didn’t taste like shit.” The deep bass of Sgt. Chaz Jacobs’ voice was soothing over the steady rumble. The large black man reached for the mp3 player that had been jury-rigged into the PA, pausing only to knock twice on the younger soldier’s helmet. “Hang in there, geek…we’re almost there.” The simplest of gestures seemed to calm Patrick as the familiar rap-metal sounds of Rage Against the Machine filled the confined space.

Patrick nodded and continued to keep his eyes closed as the heavy drums and guitar riffs oddly cured his shaky nerves. Halfway through Calm Like a Bomb, Patrick was jolted out of his musical daydream by the sound of vocal interference.

“Entering Enemy Territory!” A commanding female voice shouted from the front of the vehicle, competing and ultimately winning against the strained singing of Zach de la Rocha. “Geek! You’re on!”

Patrick flipped open the custom laptop and brought up the schematics of the large tank in which they rode. His fingers flew as fast as lightning as he typed in the 20 lines of memorized code. A deep breath filled his suddenly frozen lungs, as his finger stretched to press the ‘enter’ key. A small blip that colored the screen from red to green signalled success.”Done. We are now a pristine sand dune. All cameras and mirrors,” he paused as he took another diagnostic,”nominal.”

“Gotta love the Goddamn British.” Chaz spoke up and cranked back the tunes as the team waited for further orders.

 —-

Sound interesting? Apparently the technology is not that far off. According to a few different articles, the initial hardware is actually in place and in the style of James Bond, the British will have an invisible working tank by 2012.

Now, if they can only get the food right!

3 Responses

  1. durmiun/jason says:

    Sheesh, no one likes Rage Against the Machine that much now… Why would they be any better in 5 years? :-P Were they paying you to write that article?

    I kid, I kid.

  2. Kate says:

    Bah. I like them. :(

  3. StAtiC says:

    I like them too, big surprise there, I have a lot of rage. It would be fitting that the Brits are closest to making this technology work, as they have had their “teeth cloaking device” working for years. Cheerio!

Leave a Reply

Peter Hodges

Exploring the Craft of Writing