The guard: making of guardsman 8007-A-399-033
Part 6 Get the bodies
After the exhaustive morning training the material had earned some rest time. GUMS directed them to the feeding stations, five at a time. They placed their palm on the reader, identifying who they were. They placed their mouths on the feeding tube and then started to suck.
“Attention, feeding starts.”
The five started sucking, bypassing the gag reflex. The nutritious paste arrived in their mouths. The taste was a little different from the morning, tasting more like carrots. 45 seconds later the feeding stopped.
“Your feeding finishes.”
They withdrew their mouths, took a napkin, cleaned the feeding tube and threw the napkin away.
They stepped back in line and waited in rest position.
One of the instructors came around with their midday pills. As they had learned, they assumed the Attention position.
“Open mouth”
The material opened their mouths obediently and the instructor retrieved their pills from a labeled dispenser. Some got two, some three. Zero-Thirty-Two got four different pills.
“Swallow”
The boys swallowed the pills.
Zero-Thirty-One spoke, “Master, Material A-8007-399-031 requests Permission to speak.”
“Yes”
“What do the pills contain that the material was given?”
“Well, that is a legit question. They contain growth compounds, vaccines, vitamins and stuff that is good for you.” In his mind he added, “Stuff to mechanize and rubberize you and not to forget the stuff that makes you more docile and open to embedding our commands.”
Encouraged by this, Zero-Thirty-Four asked about the feeding tubes.
“You don’t get normal plates. You have to get strong fast. It”s less of a hassle, faster, cleaner and just part of our lifestyle. Besides, we want to control your calorie intake. Now form a line and wait until GUMS directs you to your next task.”
Gums directed them to the classroom. A-8007-399-033 followed the already familiar procedure of strapping himself into the chair. He placed his feet into the pedals and started pedaling despite his exhausted feet. The training chairs made them intently focused on the screen.
He opened his terminal. They were introduced into the basics of the pan European security system. It consisted of the guard, Eurocorps, the common civil protection and various other agencies providing security for the good citizens of Europe and their children.
The starting screen said, “Political Instruction " Lesson 1 The History of Europe.
Do you remember the early years of the new century, when Europe was in peril? First the Euro lost is value. There were recessions, terrorist threats from the right to the Islamist and wars at its borders. Our society had lost its direction. Our leaders seemed clueless. We were aimless and drifting. Global warming was getting out of hand. Some argued for a breakup of the United Europe. They said that small units, below the level of nation state, should carry on. Some argued for further integration. National Governments bickered. The new movement started as a youth movement, demanding focus. It became a political movement for tighter and closer integration of Europe so that she could get her rightful dominance back on the world stage.”
(A short history of the 21st Century, by Alan Jones, Oxford University Press)
Whilst looking at his screen he noticed it was flashing sometimes. It was sometimes showing him not the text but other pictures.
He pressed the button and one of the instructors came along.
“What is this flashing on my screen? Is my screen broken?”
The senior guardsman started pressing some of the buttons and checking the screen.
“No that”s normal and how it works.”
“But why does it flash then?”
“Well it”s part of your continuous, multi-channel programming.”
“Programming?”
“Yes, Material. The mind can be very receptive to information that it absorbs without you being aware of it. That is how the programming works. GUMS can embed messages in the white noise that it sometimes plays into your earpiece or in the screens you watch. You won’t be aware of these messages and couldn’t hear them even if you knew they were there and listened especially for them. Nonetheless, your mind will hear them and respond accordingly.”
“What sort of messages?”
“Oh, GUMS will have to see what you respond to best. Now stop asking questions and continue doing your work before the system decides your responses are not sufficient and starts punishing you.”
A-8007-399-033 started to concentrate on the screen again. His attention became more and more drawn to the clear and reassuring instructions.
Lesson 2:
“Terrorism and the internal challenges of disgruntled citizens lead to new security challenges. Crime syndicates were operating on a cross border basis. The Security situation was getting worse every day. The answer was the creation of a Pan-European police force supplementing the national forces. This police force could effectively deal with these issues under the jurisdiction of the European state. Within the organization strong post-national values of discipline, structure and unity were embedded. Behind the cover of the uniform, the guardsmen came to feel united.”
(An introduction into the history of the European Guard, Brussels, Guards Headquarters. L-3001?020-077)
Lesson 3:
“The institution the most clearly embodies the “Awakened European” ideology is the guard. Young men are coerced by carrot and stick to become members of this European security force. This force is more and more replacing traditional police. The men are given incentives such as stipends for education, a generous payment at the end of service and preferential treatment for government jobs. It”s also easy for troubled young man to flee their legal problems and for immigrants to get a fast track to citizenship. More and more men are using the guard as a way to flee female domination. The space for male activity in Europe is shrinking, and so the guard offers an outlet for those men to be integrated productively into society.”
The political instruction ended and the topic switched to more practical things. The first topic was the pain sticks. The standard guard issue pain stick was a 40 cm baton with a switch on top. It could be turned off, dialed to the left to inflict pain or to the right to disable someone. The disabling effect was not painful and could be used in arrest procedures. The induction pain works on bare skin and through up to 5 centimeters of clothing.
Test
G-0500-878-605 started the examination process. Questions would appear on each guardsman”s screen and they had 20 seconds to give an answer. They received a little burst of pain for each wrong answer.
A-8007-399-033 opened the exam application and the questions started to appear.
“What is your ambition as a guardsman?”
He typed his answer into the computer. “My biggest ambition is to be useful to Europe and help my brothers.”
“What did you learn today?”
“I have to accept the fact that the GUMS and the instructors know best for me and will guide me through my development as a guardsman.”
“You are given an order that you do not really want to execute. What do you do?”
“I will obey all orders immediately and without hesitation.”
“What thought helps you during training?”
“I feel secure, knowing that I’m observed by an instructor and GUMS all of the time.”
“When is it appropriate to sit?”
“I will not stand, sit, or talk without permission.”
After several more similar questions, the examination ended and the screen went blank.
“Material, you have done well for today. For some of you I will activate the punishment and reward routines in minute.”
Sam saw A-8007-399-030 silently showing pain on his face, clearly hit by the pain inducer. He relaxed after some time. The chamber went dark and the reward routines began. Sam felt very good. His penis swelled and got hard. The plug in his ass made some rewarding convulsions. He had answered 78 of 100 questions correctly.
This short moment of pride and elation was terminated by the lights going back on. The earpiece buzzed.
“Proceed to inspection.”
The guardsman rose from their chairs and stepped out into the tunnel. The senior instructor, G-0500-878-605, yelled, “At attention” They stood ramrod straight, starring ahead. The senior instructor inspected their R-Class suits one by one.
“Material number 8007-A-399-032 there are stains on your suit. Clean them.” The pain stick stuck him at the site of the stain and zero-thirty-two yelled in pain.
The GUMS voice directed them and they marched wherever they were supposed to go in lockstep.
Because the entire training took place in the endless caverns of a French mountain, they didn’t know how late it was. GUMS wouldn’t supply them with a time or date and the instructors wouldn’t either.
GUMS directed them to the treadmills again. They stepped in and started running.
“How long did we sleep last night?”
“I don’t know.”
“It can’t have been long, I feel really tired.”
“Maybe it”s just the transition.”
“It would be good to know the time.”
The big brother explained, “Why do you have to know the time? GUMS will task you if you have something to do and will send you to sleep if there is nothing to do. Just trust GUMS.”
They kept running and running on the treadmills. They were bald, rubbered, muscled and in formation chanting songs about how good life in the guard was.
Zero-thirty-one just couldn’t run anymore and stepped out of the treadmill. One of the instructors, in his black rubber uniform with the red trimmings, approached him.
“Why did you stop running, material?”
“Master, I can’t any longer.”
“Run.”
“Master?”
The pain stick stuck him at his right ankle and zero-thirty-one felt his ankle exploding with pain.
“Now get back into the treadmill and run or this guardsman will punish your entire family unit.”
After about four hours their family unit was allowed off the treadmills and herded, with a quite liberal use of some pain sticks, to do pushups.
“Ok, the one who does more than the senior instructor gets this bar of chocolate.” yelled one of the instructors in their red-trimmed R-Class Uniforms. The promise of chocolate spurred a frenzy of activity and everyone tried to out compete the senior instructor doing push-ups.
“40, 41, 42...”
8007-A-399-032 stopped.
“I’m out.”
One of the instructors came around.
“What are you?”
“I’m out sir.”
The pain stick hit his butt.
“You say “this guardsman is out”. Now get off to the side and wait.”
8007-A-399-034 talked to Sam.
“The senior instructor isn’t even sweating yet.”
“In sports I once did 80.”
The pain stick mercilessly jabbed him.
“There is no “I” in the guard material! You are out.”
In the end a muscular bloke, 8007-A-399-015, did the most pushups but did not beat the senior instructor. Never the less they gave him the chocolate bar.
The ordeal was about to end. The 40 guardsmen in their batch were led to the sauna.
“Guardsmen, you now have 40 hours of nonstop physical and mental training behind you. I’m proud of you.” The senior instructor yelled. “Now we have time to relax. Remove your R-Class-Uniforms, fold them and put your underwear on top. GUMS has opened the seals. Then join me in the sauna.”
With sore hands and feet they removed the clothing they had lived in during the past two days. Sometimes it was not easy because the suits clung tightly to their bodies.
Then they removed their underwear and went into the big sauna. Well not that big, but if you sat next to each other and used every bit of space then everyone would fit.
They managed and everyone, including the instructors, joined them in the sauna. As protocol demanded, the instructors took their belts with the pain sticks into the sauna. They all sat silently sweating. Exhausted, they looked at each other”s bodies. They were hairless, tattooed and exhausted but enjoying the warmth of the sauna.
Zero-Thirty-Four was looking at Zero-Thirty-Threes body.
“Yours is looking good and the rush from tattooing is almost gone”
“Now that this guardsman sits, he can feel the pain in his mussel”
“This one hopes they will permit us to sleep”
“Look at Zero-Thirty-Two he is already nodding off”
“You look a little bit worn out”
“Really, good that you my dear are fresh and relaxed”
Both started to giggle. It felt good to be close to each other and rest.