Paradise Lost

I tell myself I shouldn't care. I'm just here for the money. And as far as all the other jobs EXOCOM offers for its mercenaries, playing lookout isn't as bad. Less chance of being shot at. Less chance of dying. Though up here in the Rockies, it doesn't stop me from freezing my arse off.

"Echo-Two, fifteen-fifteen, no change."

I look at my partner. The numb nut who somehow manages to call in every fifteen minutes that nothing's happening. That so far, Drayos has no intent on sabotaging EXOCOM's operations here. It's an odd world, I suppose, where we have to report on nothing. Of course, given the nature of the two hyper-corporations, I suppose them doing nothing rather than something is the oddity. Especially when the "something" usually involves one of the things doing nothing keeps me out of, and therefore, alive.

…did I mention how cold it was?

I look at my partner as he sets the timer of his watch again before covering it up, lest reflected sunlight give away our position. I look back over the valley. There's snow here, which is more than can be said for much of Earth nowadays bar the Antarctic. And some wildlife – something even rarer.

"Anything?"

"Nothing."

And the routine continues. My partner radios in. He asks me if I've seen anything. I answer with "nothing." I suppose he knows that if I did see something I'd say it rather than waiting to reach the designated report point, but, well, conversation's therapeutic.

"Why do you think they call it edenium?" I ask suddenly.

He looks at me again, and beneath the power armour's mask, I can sense his confusion. Broken routine and all that. "What?"

"The crystals. Edenium, or just plain eden. Why you think it was called that?"

"The fuck would I know?" He lays down on the snow beside me, looking out over the same valley we've been looking over for a week. "Least it's pronounceable."

"Yeah, but I mean…edenium? Garden of Eden?"

"No shit Sherlock, scientists named an element after something instead of naming it after themselves." He shoves some snow off the ledge. I watch it plummet to the ground below. "Next you'll be telling me that mercury isn't a planet."

I sigh. So much for the therapeutic effects of conversation. But still…

"Yeah, but remember when it was first found?" I ask. Edenium? The substance that would solve the energy crisis? Save the world? Save humanity?" I glance over at him. "Now look at us. We're fighting over the thing that's meant to save us, killing ourselves, and taking more of the planet with us. I mean, did you hear about Singapore? We-"

"Don't," he says. "Don't start. EXOCOM wants edenium, we fight. They pay us. Long as that continues, we keep alive."

"And that's it?" I ask.

"I'm a mercenary, course it is. And…hello."

I see it too. A Drayos soldier. Down in the valley. On his lonesome.

"What have we here?"

He grabs his sniper rifle. I grab my binoculars.

"Just one?" I ask. "I…oh."

The grunt's unzipped his trousers and has started taking a piss on the snow. There's probably something metaphorical about that.

"Think I can take him?" my partner asks.

"Yeah, but…"

The rifle cracks. The man falls face first into the snow. Blood pools around the urine.

Ugh.

"Did you have to do that?" I ask.

"It's my job," my partner responds. "Yours too."

"Yeah, but-"

"Look, guy takes a piss, so it's not an official maneuverer. People come looking for him. When those people come looking for him, it gives us a chance to gather intelligence. And besides, that's one less Drayos grunt in the world. So what's the problem?"

I remain silent.

"Come on," he says. "What's the problem?"

"Nothing," I say softly. "Nothing's the problem."

It's the truth. Drayos won't care about one lost soldier. I know that because EXOCOM wouldn't have cared either. But I can't help looking at the blood on the snow. At the body that'll likely be consumed by the few animals that still live here.

"Echo-Two, fifteen-thirty," my partner says. "One Drayos grunt down. Straggler."

No change, I think. No real change.

No change in the fighting over resources. No change in killing each other. Edenium, for its namesake, for its promise, can't change that either. All that's changed is the planet itself. And everything that's been lost.

For a moment, I wonder if Eden ever existed. Or Elysium. Or anything else like that in any other mythology. And a moment later, I realize that it doesn't matter. Such places are lost.

Like the world. A lost paradise.

A/N

And "retro shooter oneshots" continues...no, that's not actually a thing. But after writing for Bluestreak last time, Toxikk ended up getting its time in the sun. Go figure.