Time had lost all meaning for Captain 2177-727-Jade, for every day was a whole new experience. Different places, tasks, people and attire. There was always something to do as a proud member of Force Z. Every month, she would be flown to one of the seven states, and in the time that had passed, she had seen the glory and prosperity the throne had brought to the kingdom outside of Coney Island. She had seen what she needed to protect. Order and stability.

  In a world set ablaze by silly disputes and petty calls for independence, Force Z held the jagged line between order and chaos. For this, the Singaporean terrorist organization known as the Tunnel Rats had to be exterminated like the vermin they were. Her superiors before her had failed. They tried gassing the tunnels, but the air pressure within proved too low, only twenty-five per cent of the train tunnels managed to reach full toxic saturation.

  Many ‘rats’ survived, displeasing the royal advisors as the number of hit-and-run attacks on military outposts doubled. One plane filled with students was even bombed during the current year’s X-Levels, causing much great public outcry within the Upper Strata of Krah.

  But in tragedy, came opportunity. This time, the throne did not suppress its critics.

  #

  2177-727-Jade was just a mere lieutenant back then, stuck behind a desk in an office at the East Bank of the Krah Canal—sometimes she was forced underneath it to face the terrifying odour of fish and clams or risk getting rated poorly on her work performance.

  Her day to ascend the ladder came, however, when the royal advisors asked for suggestions after karma came for her seniors who were ‘recommended’ for transfer to the Eastern Front—the Philippine jungles. Many of her peers played safe, throwing out standard, dull answers like: poisoning the water supply instead, infecting thousands of rats with a plague and then unleashing them into the tunnels to breed, or trains loaded with fertiliser set to detonate at key load-bearing sections of the tunnel. Someone even suggested a nuke of all things.

  2177-727-Jade was realistic, however.

  In her recommendation report, she began with the line:

  “The sea is infinite… So let us use it.

  We will drown them. Many tunnels are below sea level, and very few are like me—who can swim and hold their breaths for long periods. We will flood it at night, that way we can see the escapees on the surface with thermals.

  Those that do survive will be cut off from the surface and will have to live in isolated air bubbles where they serve as no threat to the United States of Krah.

  Should they decide to leave, they risk popping their bubble.

  Computer simulations and a full geological mapping of the MRT tunnels are requested to see if my suggestion is effective enough to merit its full deployment. – LTA 2177-727-Jade.”

  In the report, she mapped out the areas where the sea could be channelled inward, either by a controlled demolition or oil drilling rigs. Some urbanised areas with tunnel networks were already submerged thanks to the rising sea levels and simply needed re-routing.

  She was not hopeful of her plan getting approved, she simply reported on what she thought to be common sense, with a bit of polish. She also was afraid of giving too mundane an answer, which would lead to her being transferred to the Counter-Insurgency in the Philippines.

  To her surprise, men in black suits came to her cubical one Friday after lunch, and told her to come with them, no questions asked and that her superiors had been informed. Before she knew it, she was in an armoured van with a black bag over her head.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Kneel, Lieutenant.” A strong female voice echoed. “Unbag her, gentlemen.”

  2177-727-Jade knelt on one knee and looked down immediately, averting her gaze.

  She recognised the architecture of the hall and the pillars of this cold dark marble place.

  The Royal Palace on the West Bank of the Krah Canal.

  “Do you know who we are?” The elegant voice asked, but received no reply. “You may speak freely, as you did in your report. No harm will come to you, we promise, for we have read and listened. According to the Scouters, you were known as the Princess of Clams in the Village of Coney Island of Old Singapore. You have come a long way. For this, you are admired.”

  “I do not know who you are, but I suspect you are of the throne. I will not guess.” 2177-727-Jade said nervously. No one knew who the reigning monarch was. Supposedly, this was to prevent attempts of assassination from foreign powers—or local insurgents.

  “Rise, you may see us for who we are.” The elegant voice ordered.

  2177-727-Jade got up on one knee and looked up only to shake in fear at the sight. Before her was a being with three heads and a spider-like body with eight mechanical legs. It clung to a web of intricate fibreglass cables that sparkled in the dim light. “Who are you?”

  “We are Krah. The Monarch. We have run the simulations. Your plan has a ninety-two per cent chance of success and does not require a nuclear device. We will execute your plans immediately as such, and you will take the lead, Captain. The offshore drillers are already moving into position, and the navy’s submarines are preparing to… loosen the soil in the submerged areas of the old city. We cannot lose any more children. Order must reign.”

  “As you will it, Your Majesty,” 2177-727-Jade said carefully, despite her promotion.

  “One slight addition, however, Captain…” The triple-voiced, three-headed, six-eyed, six-armed, eight-legged biomechanical monarch beckoned. “We would like you to help Krah achieve one hundred per cent success… this requires your… loyalty… and cooperation…”

  “What will you have me do…?” 2177-727-Jade asked, with a steel gaze.

  “We will give you and your subordinates… gills… and… fins… You will descend deep into the tunnels… and… pop whatever bubbles that remain… if the bubbles prove too… stubborn… you will… sanitise the area… with lethal force…”

  “As you will it, Your Majesty.”

  #

  The first phase of the operation was a success. Thanks to the near-infinite flow of seawater into the burrows of the Tunnel Rats, many resistance bases were flooded past midnight. The few survivors who proved to be good swimmers scurried to the surface, emerging at train station entrances or emergency exits only to be torn apart by heat-seeking missiles from the autonomous stealth helicopter gunships flying silently overhead. Craters marked their grave.

  The water in the train tunnels was cold. The second phase of the operation was executed also past midnight, during the monsoon season in September, when the already-flooded tunnels were further flooded, increasing the chances of mission success. Force Z’s Team-727 dived into the tunnels in wetsuits with flashlights, radios, mapping devices, laser rifles and plastic explosives. No diving equipment like oxygen tanks or flippers was needed, for their new bodies already made all the difference. They had done this several times and this was just another day on the job of a “Bubble Popper”, one of the many heroes in Krah media.

  They got far from C5. Twice the safe distance, since shockwaves in water, proved to be more deadly than in air. The silent explosion rattled the tunnel and their organs, but nonetheless, they swam at full speed through the hole and into the light.

  2177-727-Jade and her team fired indiscriminately.

  Bodies littered the floor of the secret garden. A common sight for bubbles like these. Cabbages, carrots, and mushrooms. A chicken pen, and a pig sty. No cows though surprisingly. Some other bubbles had them and used their excrement as fertiliser. No blood was spilt.

  The laser rifles cauterised whatever holes they created.

  Without talking, Team 727 proceeded to double-tap their targets in the head and sweep the rest of the bubble for survivors. Racks of stolen vintage rifles, handguns and grenades littered one of the rooms, warranting a placement of an additional block of C4 on the ceiling. When they got to the last room, they hesitated once more, as they always did after lasing down the last of the desperate defenders—men with rifles and boys with handguns. Women and children huddled up in the corner. To 2177-727-Jade, they were not so innocent.

  She could see the anger in their eyes—determined and unbegging, filled with fire and rage. A flame that was passed from generation to generation like a disease. The same flame that got many young hopeful X-Level candidates killed, and many more law-abiding citizens murdered for simply living a normal life. There was only one way to put this flame out for good.

  “Open fire.”