Rise of a Valkyrie

Part 38

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A painful and poorly remembered weekend passed by—either in sleep or nursing hangovers—until, per their orders, the freshly minted Rangers queued up outside the Physio-Development Center to complete their 'training'. Joined by dozens of graduates from other training camps on Tyr, all were giddy with anticipation at the next step in their journey. Kayla found herself surrounded by young women just as boisterous, fit, and ready for action as she was. Most of them had concluded that the women of Valkyrie were something unusual, and guesswork ran wild.

The crowd of girls waited for an hour, breaking ice, and sharing their boot camp stories, until the main doors opened and they were ushered into a lobby. Glass walls separated them from an expansive gymnasium, where they witnessed absurd feats of strength from women inside.

Thandi nudged Kayla. "Check it out—she's lifting five-hundred pounds!"

A young woman got up from the bench press machine, saw the spectators and smiled, flexing her biceps in a Miss Universe pose.

"She doesn't look that big," Rose said. "Men who lift that much are built like tanks."

Kayla smirked. "You could use a little more thickness." She began to laugh, but stopped when Rose glared at her.

"This way ladies!" a woman called, and she led them into a small auditorium where she took the podium.

"Welcome to the next step on your journey in Valkyrie. It is an endless truth of war that nobody is ever as strong as they need to be. For that reason, all personnel in this organization undergo a biomolecular transformation. Today, we're going to subject you to that procedure."

An image flashed up on the screen of a bizarrely shaped flying robot, armed with strange twisting limbs and mechanical appendages arranged around its body.

The speaker gestured with a laser pointer. "You will be strapped down while this machine operates on you, rearranging your insides to make you physically superior. You'll have to hold very still while it goes to work because the slightest mistake could leave you in agonizing pain." She paused, then glanced around the room and winked. "Okay, I'm kidding, sort of."

The Rangers laughed nervously.

"This is called a nanomachine, or nanite, and it's actually much smaller than your cells," the speaker continued. "In short, we will flood your bloodstream with these machines, and they will reconstruct your bone, muscle, connective tissue—the entire substance of your body. The process takes two weeks, during which time you will be in a chemically induced coma. When you wake up, you will have profoundly increased strength, stamina, speed, and healing potential.

"Obviously, this information has been deliberately kept from you until this point in the program. Napoleon once said, 'It's the unconquerable soul of man, and not the nature of the weapon he uses, that ensures victory'. With your graduation from boot camp, you have proven your dedication, self-discipline, and ability to succeed against adversity, regardless of what you have to work with. Never forget—Rangers are the product of their own character first. Everything else is just a tool."

Kayla nodded keenly. Her imagination raced with possibilities. First on her mind—would there be anything in the galaxy she couldn't climb?

"In the second place," the speaker said, "knowledge of this transformation offers a grave temptation to those who would otherwise not be so committed to working here. For you see, these nanites will make you effectively immortal."

Jaws dropped around the room, and Christie raised her hand. "What does 'effectively' mean in this context?"

"We don't know," the speaker said. "Theoretically, up to fifty thousand years, but nobody has tested that."