Identities Revealed

Magnus was wake. The shouting had waken him up.

"I'm awake. I'm awake! What's going on?!"

Russel was at his side, sitting loyally, like how a dog watched over its master.

"There's something outside you gotta see!", Russel said, responding to Magnus' query. "Come on, let's go!"

"Alright, alright. I'm going!", Magnus got up, being pulled by the hand by a Russel, eager to impress his idol. Russel led Magnus outside his tent and into a field. In the field sat a big war-machine. It was a newly designed UPC tank.

"Look at how cool it is!", Russel exclaimed. Magnus, on the other hand wasn't at all impressed, and started walking away. That is, until he heard the General speaking. Magnus stopped to listen.

"My fellow soldiers, I have you all gathered here today to unveil the UPC's newest assault tank! We have been graced with the chance to test it out in battle! It's faster, harder, and stronger than any other tank in history! With this Beast of Steel we will win the war!"

All the soldiers started cheering after the General's speech. Magnus, still being naive, didn't see the cold sweat running down the General's forehead.

"Russel, I'm going to go work out.", Magnus said to Russel, walking away.

"What?! You don't even wanna see them test it out?", Russel said while pouting, staring at the back of his idol.

"Nah, I've seen enough.", Magnus said this without revealing the fact that staring at the tank for that long had let him see inside the tank. Freaked out by this, Magnus wanted to escape as smoothly as possible.

Magnus, curling any weight he could find, eventually deciding that it would be better if he did some push-ups. He did as many as he could but often lost count from the explosions of the soldiers testing out the tank.

"You're doing them wrong. The push-ups, I mean.", the strange voice said.

"What? What are you doing here?", Magnus almost shouted aloud, but refrained from shouting for fear of being overheard.

The voice replied, "It seems that your interactions with me have expanded your mental capacity. You can talk with me for a full fifteen waking minutes before your mind gets too tired."

Magnus, as giddy as can be, excited that he wasn't insane or having one really lucid dream, responded, "Alright. I have a question, what exactly are you?"

"I'm the artificial intelligence that comes with every Administrator. You can think of the other AI's in the heads of other Administrator's as my brothers and sisters."

Magnus followed up his question by asking, "So, what can you do?", eager to explore all the new things that had been revealed to him.

The AI responded, "I can think for you. If you need to focus on fighting something and need to learn something, you can either let me fight for you or have me figure out what you want to know."

Magnus, already wanting to experiment, and forgetting his fifteen minute time-limit, asked, "So, do you know who the Administrator of earth is?"

"I am not allowed to share personal information about any other Administrator with you. It goes against my laws."

Magnus started to get a headache, but persevered, asking now, "What are your laws?"

"I see that my presence is already starting to have adverse effects on your mind. I shall retreat for now. I will speak to you tonight."

Magnus was confused. It had barely been six minutes of conversation and he had fifteen. Magnus then realized that it was probably fifteen minutes before he was physically incapacitated, rather then just not being able to talk anymore. That hypothesis explained his headache.

After wrapping up his exercises, Magnus walked over to the cook's tent, in search of food.

"Hello? Is there any food?"

"Get lost, kid. No food yet.", a cook responded to Magnus' query. Magnus realized that the cook wasn't being rude, he was just focused on making food. The cook continued, "You'll know when it's done. Just go clean your gun or something while you're waiting."

Magnus acknowledged he heard the cook and left the tent.

Magnus sat down on a log and thought that he should give the AI a name. He racked his brain for fitting names. He then decided he would refer to the AI as "Amicus" as it means friend in Latin. Magnus thought this name would be fitting as the AI would be in his brain for the rest of his existence.

Magnus started to think about what he would do next after he settled that important matter. If all of his dreams were real, then there really was a bomb in development that could level a whole city. Magnus realized he should tell the General, he would know what to do.

Magnus went to the General's tent. Magnus knocked on the flap, seeking entry.

"Yes? Come in!", the General called out, hearing Magnus' banging on the flaps.

Magnus went inside. Russel was standing across the desk from the General.

"Russel, I think you should hear this too.", Magnus said, looking outside the tent to see if there was any unwanted ears.

Magnus was sure they were alone before saying, "I know about a secret project the Deutschland scientists are working on. They're going to construct a bomb that has enough power to level a city."

The General scoffed, "What proof do you have?"

Magnus took a deep breath. He said, "I saw it in a dream."

Then the General started laughing. He just laughed harder and harder. The man couldn't stop laughing. His abdomen just kept on producing spasms, forcing the air out in a "Ha!"

"What's so funny? Why are you laughing?! This is a serious matter!"

"So you're being serious?", Russel asked, completely serious and showing no sign of his respect for Magnus.

Magnus replied immediately, "Yes, I'm being completely serious."

This just made the General laugh harder. "Magnus, you idiot! Do you know how naive you are?", the General asked, still wheezing a bit. "Magnus, you just confirmed my suspicions! You're the new Administrator, aren't you?", the General said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

Magnus, confused, looked to Russel for answers. Russel was staring at the ground, refusing to make eye contact with Magnus.

"Wha-What's going on?!", Magnus asked, confused and preparing for a rumble.

"Magnus, I am the earth's Administrator!", the General said, throwing his arms up and his head back.

"What?!", Magnus put up his clenched fists, sure of only one thing right now, that his life was in danger.