Ten Weeks Ago...

Video excerpt from a Project Utopia entrance interview with Sgt. Simon Quarry:

[The man in the video sits ramrod straight in the chair, his hands folded in front of him, eyes forward. He wears a crisp army dress uniform, obviously specially tailored for his broad shoulders and barrel chest. He looks like the perfect solider. The only thing that would set him apart from any number of other enlisted men is the fact that he appears to be carved from a deep gray stone. An off camera voice says, "Please, Sergent Quarry, tell us a little about yourself..."]

Yes, sir. I enlisted just over a year ago in order to serve my country the best I could. No offense, but American can't rely too much on external entities for it's protection--even one as benevolent as Project Utopia. And we've been hurting a little for recruits, so I figured I'd follow in my daddy and granddaddy's footsteps. I signed up not expecting to do much more than some low-impact tours, maybe some support for the Corps of Engineers in some of the rougher areas.

I was only a PFC, but I apparently scored well enough on some tests and made enough of an impression on Captain Sennat that I was selected to be part of the U.S. contingent sent to assist the United Nations with the Kashmir operation.

Well, you know how that went.

I was there in the thick of it when all those novas let loose. Like the rest of my platoon, I was trying to get as many civilians out of the line of fire as possible. As you can imagine, there weren't a whole lot of places to go that were safe. I had found a group of eight or ten kids huddled in a building and got them out of there as quick as possible. Did it just in time, too. That building was flattened a few minutes later.

I had seen a cave or mine entrance a little earlier and thought that would be a good place to have the kids hole up. We made a bee line for it and got inside when one of the Chinese novas spotted us. I hustled the kids as far back into the mountain as I could and got a few shots off before the nova fired on us.

As the mine entrance collapsed on me, I thought that was it. Not just for me, but for those kids.

I'm not exactly sure what happened, but the next thing I knew I was digging myself out from under a few tons of rock. Well, not exactly digging myself out. I just kind of picked it all up at once. It was pretty unexpected.

[The voice from off screen says, "So you were standing there holding tons of rocks... what did you do then?"]

Well, sir, the only sensible thing to do. I threw it at the Chinese nova who had dropped it on me. Figured it was only fair to return the favor.

[From off screen: "How did he feel about that?"]

To be honest, sir, I think he was surprised as I was. Last I could see him, he was trying to blast through the rocks as they crashed down on him. From what I hear, he didn't make it.

I gathered up those kids, since most of the cover from the cave was gone, and got them back to the mobile command post. I tried to join back up with my unit, but they had been wiped out. General Alvarez had me stay with the command group to provide support and defense as most of the novas we had brought with us were heavily involved in the fight.

["And what happened after the battle?"]

The OpNet reporters were there, of course and had some footage of me and the kids. I became the "human interest" piece of war stories. Back in Oklahoma, it was the "Home Town Boy Makes Good" angle. In most other places it was the "Good Soldier Goes Nova and Saves the Day" stories. I fought the publicity for a while because, well, I was just doing what anyone else would do, y'know. I mean, by all reckoning, I should have been dead. I was given a second chance and special powers, what kind of man would I be if I didn't make the best of that?

[End of Clip]