There was a silence in the room, broken only by the light whirring of the artificial arm as I rotated and moved it while I thought about the offer.

I had never considered myself to be the military type. I was no gun-toting rebel-hating maniac, no glory-loving honour-cherishing Defender of Humanity. I’d never fired a gun outside of the range videos that kept running on his screen. Never thought I’d be in a situation like this.

“What happens if I say yes?”

He smiled a predatory smile, like a chessmaster examining the certainty of victory.

“Your application to the United States of Near Earth Special Operations Command has been fast-tracked and provisionally accepted pending your approval.

You will be taken from here to a secure testing facility off-world, where you will be of assistance to several projects that could benefit from your abilities.

You will become the best we can make of you. You will become one of us, the protectors of Earth and all her colonies."

It was a smile of triumph.