Many soldiers had volunteered but nobody knew who was selected. On the day the mission began the entire army gathered to watch. They saw the commando walking to the launch pad, kitted out with his robotic blast-resistant exoskeleton, his database-linked awareness-augmenting helmet and his instant-teleport device on his back. He was armed to the teeth with the latest techno-weapons.
And then they gasped as the Commander-in-Chief ordered that the robotic blast-resistant exoskeleton be removed. One of the Generals protested: “Without his robotic exoskeleton he will be weak, and he will be vulnerable. He could easily be injured, or worse.”
The Commander-in-Chief nodded gently, and then ordered that the instant-teleport device be removed too. He would only be able to use the transport available on the planet. The Generals all had serious misgivings about this, but when the Commander-in-Chief ordered the soldier to leave behind all of his weapons they protested loudly: “How will he fight?”
“He knows,” said the Commander-in-Chief. And finally he ordered that the database-linked awareness-augmenting helmet be removed. The soldier would not have access to all of their knowledge. But that was not what made the crowd gasp. It was the identity of the soldier who was being sent on what seemed like a suicide-mission. It was the Commander-in-Chief’s only son.
He gave his son and hug and as he went to the launch pad the Commander-in-Chief gave him his final advice: ‘Never forget that I will be with you. Talk to me and rely on me. You can call on me for the knowledge and perspective that you need and while you are doing what I show you to, if you need power to drive off enemies or to heal people then I will supply it, just ask and you will receive’.
As the son departed, the father wept. He wept because he knew the sacrifice that would be required of his one and only son, but mixed with this were tears of joy as he thought about the people that his son was going to save.
