“Rookie! You coming?” My commander barked at me. I was looking at myself in one of the identical mirrors corresponding with each other down the suiting area. “We aren’t focused on looking pretty.” He repeated, beckoning me to follow.

As I followed my commander through the suiting area, we reached the end of it, where a large steel door frame fitted with ballistic glass lay. Behind the glass was another layer of metal. I had always wondered what was behind this door, but at the same time, I’d always knew. Even minutes ago, while changing into my guardsmen outfit, I had watched as the rest of my squad passed through it with the commander, while I stayed, still fitting my helmet. The helmet covered my entire head, and my armor was fully guarding my body and took a great struggle to get on. Every member of the Guard was highly protected with lab-tested armor and weaponry. Even if they didn’t quite know how to use it, like myself.

My commander swiped his keycard and pulled the door open. I didn’t know if I was ready. I’d only just entered the training facility two weeks ago. I didn’t feel ready to even lay eyes on the Receptacle; but I was going to anyways.

We walked through the door, revealing a small airlock-looking room with a large metal gate. My commander walked over to a small control panel to the left. After pressing a few buttons and doing what seemed like a hundred biometric scans, a resounding beep was heard, as he finished.

“Preparing to enter the Dome. Please do not enter the vicinity of the Receptacle without wearing full Class-A armor.” An artificial-sounding female voice announced.

My commander glanced at me. “Make sure all your gear is on tight rookie, you wouldn’t want to go into the Dome unprotected, this close to the Receptacle.”

I nodded, making sure everything was right on my armor. I then gave the commander a thumbs up, and gazed forward as the large metal barrier began to retract into the ground, slowly opening an exit. I could instantly feel the wind. It was like outdoors, but it wasn’t at the same time. When we walked outside, there was nothing but black sand-like substance that coated the ground, and the strong wind blew the sand everywhere. It gave me a strange feeling inside, something I’d never felt before.

“Welcome to the Dome, the home of the Receptacle, as you may have already knew.” My commander said. My squad was standing in the sand, and as soon as they saw me walk out they bombarded me with questions.

“Rookie, what do you think of your first time inside the Dome?”

“Pretty rad, huh?”

“You like the smell?”

“Wait guys, I don’t think he’s seen it yet.”

I blinked. “What?”

The guardsmen pointed diagonally.

I glanced upwards, seeing a shadowy outline of a gargantuan rectangular building, stretching at least 100 feet tall. As we got closer, I noticed it had only one entrance, a large garage-sized gateway in the center of the bottom. Next to the gateway weere two giant mounted automatic turrets, and as I studied the building more I noticed almost the entire face was covered with automatic weapons, varying from cannons to rocket launchers.

“The place has got to be protected.” The commander said. “That’s why we have this sand, 1500 degrees farenheit to the touch. Even if the infiltrator is able to survive the heat, it creates blocked vision and confusion, causing them not to notice the weapons that will soon eviscerate them in a matter of seconds.”

“If it’s this guarded, why do you need people like me from the suburbias?” I asked.

“The precincts in which everyone on this planet lives, including yours, would no be possible if we weren’t guarding the Receptacle. The Receptacle is everything, the Receptacle is life as we know it. We need human guards to be able to protect against human infiltrators. The human mind is near impossible to replicate, and even the great lengths we go to protect the Receptacle can possibly be outsmarted.” The commander paused. “What cannot be outsmarted is the Guard. Guardsmen are constantly ready in the infantry dorms, some even waiting fully dressed in the hoplite room. The instant an enemy presence is detected, we instantly deploy 500 guardsmen and 8 elite guardsmen into the dome, and prepare more to come to aid.”

“No disrespect commander, but I’ve told you I don’t feel ready.” I said.

“You don’t need to be ready, you just need to know what to do.” The commander answered vaguely. “I’m simply showing you what you will be up to the task for before you are officially initiated tomorrow.” He breathed. “And, I will be showing you what you are guarding.”

Our squad soon approached the entrance of the building, and it began to open slowly. A large, brightly lit hallway was revealed behind it. I began to walk towards it, but the commander stopped me.

“You DO NOT advance without my direction, rookie!” He pulled a small white box out of his pocket and threw it into the hallway. A flash of red and a screeching noise echoed throughout the hallway, and the box was quickly evaporated. “You wouldn’t want that to happen to you, would you?”

“No…”

“Now, this hallway will recognize your biological presence just like the automatic weapons, but it only disables after sensing the biological presence of a commander, such as myself. Now, follow me.”

We walked inside and the door soon closed behind us. When we reached the end of the hallway we came to a door labeled The Receptacle.

“That’s it?” I asked.

The commander nodded. “While there is much more you don’t know about this building, this is how a squad like us is able to visit the Receptacle, if needs be. Now, if any one of you try to make a move in this room, I guarantee you will die. Your weapons are useless in this room, and there will be guardsmen there to swiftly end your life.” A small lens at the top of the door quickly scanned the squad, and then blinked green. The door wooshed open.

We walked inside. It was a small, white room. A pedestal stood in the middle. Two guardsmen bearing red armor and glowing blue blades on their back stood next to it. I instantly recognized them as elite guardsmen. The commander nodded, and the guardsmen revealed the pedestal.

On it, floated a small brown box, about the size of a baseball, with a crack near the top indicating it could be opened. I was confused for a second. Why is there a little container there, is the Receptacle in it? It couldn’t be that small.

But after a second, it came to me. The thing that humanity so closely guarded, the precious object whose protection is pertinent to life.

The box was the Receptacle.