Priss sauntered down the stairs that led to Chaz's room. Sylia
had said he could use this section of the basement until he found a
place of his own. Somehow, Priss didn't think that was likely to be
soon. She grinned. She certainly wouldn't move out. The pool and all
the other amenities you could ask for were right upstairs. If your alarm
went off at night, all you had to do was quickly walk to the changing
room or take the tube to the secondary facility. The list went on and
on. Priss reached the bottom of the bottom of the stairs. She raised her
hand to knock. Then she heard the voices. "So do you want to go on a
date Friday?" That was Chaz's voice! Who was he talking to? "Sure.
I'd love to go!" Nene!?
Inside the room Chaz and Nene were sitting on the sofa
talking over a couple beers. Nene had at first wondered why he had
said that he wanted to talk to her. This was turning out to better than
she hoped. A date! "So where are we going?" she asked cheerfully.
Chaz was feeling high. He hadn't been sure how she would
react. "I thought that new romance movie and maybe dinner and
dancing. How does that sound?"
Walking away from the door, Priss was barely keeping a rein
on her temper. It wasn't because she liked him, she told herself. She'd
just come down here to ask him if he wanted to go out. Nothing
special. Nene's six years younger than him for God's sake! How could
he think of going out with her!? Still fuming Priss walked back up the
stairs. Fine then. He can go after Nene. See if she cared.
Matter Over Mind Productions
Presents
MegaTokyo 2032
The Knight Sabers
"A Certain Point of View 3"
Ripples in the Water
Copyright (c) 1995 Charles S. Stitman
Nene clapped her hands. "That sounds perfect! When does
Mackie want to pick me up?" She smiled. She hadn't been on a date in
a long time.
Chaz leaned back into the beat up couch. "I thought he could
pick you up after you finish work on Friday. That way you don't have
to go to work the next day."
Nene blushed.
Chaz realized what she thought he'd meant. "I just thought
you would like a break after being out all night," he explained
hurriedly.
Nene nodded. "You know, Mackie could have asked me
himself. It's a little old fashioned to ask someone to act as a go-
between like this." Besides Mackie was cute. It's not like she would
have said no. Chaz was nice and, when he wanted to be, drop dead
gorgeous. But Nene knew where she stood with him. He definitely saw
her as his little sister. She grinned inwardly. Someday she might
surprise her face changing friend.
Chaz held up his hand. "Yeah, I know. I kind of volunteered
for the job. He seemed likely to 'gaze at her from afar' forever." But it
had worked. Now all Mackie had to do was to keep from screwing it
up. He stood up and adjusted a non-existent tie. "Now it's my turn."
Nene looked up. "You finally going to ask Priss out?" She felt
a flash of jealousy for her friend but quickly suppressed it. It was about
time. They'd either been avoiding each other or being too bright and
cheerful since he got here. Her thoughts unconsciously mirrored
Chaz's. Now all he has to do is keep from screwing up.
Chaz walked into the meeting room. Nobody. Hmm, that's
odd. She'd been talking to Sylia earlier. Chaz wandered down to the
hardsuit storage room, although he doubted Priss would be there. But
he enjoyed looking over HIS hardsuit.
It had been designed around the same idea as Priss's, but in
place of the razorgun and heavy blaster, he had built-in ports to allow
his X-ray lasers to fire. Her blasters had more stopping power, but his
X-ray lasers had better penetration. After a lot of argument, that he
thought Sylia had made more for the humor value than anything else,
he'd gotten the high heel jump system removed as well.
His gaze raked over the glossy finish. Chaz, be honest with
yourself. As a piece of technology it was fantastic, the culmination of
many a fanboys wet dreams. Aesthetically. . . it was like looking at a
beautiful Lamborgini painted metallic green. It was a little too generic,
and the orange/white color scheme turned his stomach. He'd
complained, only to be told that Sylia didn't have the time to change it.
The only other person who could was Mackie. . .
Chaz smiled. Now, there's a thought.
He looked around the underground garage. Nobody appeared
to be here either. His eyes caught a drift of heat coming from under
one of the trucks. Figures. Chaz walked over to the truck and looked
underneath. Mackie stood in the auto workspace doing something
illegal to the engine. "Hey genius! Nene said yes!" Mackie didn't seem
to notice at first, being too involved in his project. Three. .Two. .One..
The words visibly registered on Mackie. He turned to face
Chaz. "Really!? She said yes!?" At Chaz's nod, he jumped "Yahoo . . .
Ite." Chaz winced in sympathy. Mackie had forgotten about the truck.
"What are you up to down there?" Chaz asked.
Mackie with one hand on his head checking for bumps waved
with the other at the disassembled engine. "The truck had a little
engine trouble after the last mission. I thought I'd give it a tune up."
Chaz waved at the large piece of machinery waiting to be
installed. "And that's a spark plug right?"
Mackie grinned ruefully. "OK. Maybe I did want to improve
the performance of the power plant a little." He grabbed a rag and
walked out from under the truck.
"The date is set for next Friday," Chaz said. "I've already
made all the arrangements. All you have to do is show up." And pay
for it of course. "It's just like we talked about. Movie, dinner and
dancing. Think you can handle that?"
Mackie nodded eagerly. "Sure. And if you need a favor don't
hesitate to ask."
Chaz grinned. "You know, it's funny you should say that . . . "
Mackie's grin turned slightly sick and his fingers gripped the
rag a bit harder. He got the feeling he shouldn't have.
Chaz pulled up next to Priss's place. She wasn't supposed to
be working tonight and it was still pretty early. Yep, Her bike was in
its usual hiding place. He could see the cooling engine in the darkness.
Probably left just before Nene did. He knocked on the door. Priss
opened the door. "Hi Priss." Chaz tried to look as confident as he
could, completely missing Priss's expression. "I was wondering if you
wanted to go out tonight." Priss seemed to consider the thought for a
moment.
God! He had nerve! He got a date with Nene and then comes
right over here like nothing happened and asks me out. Priss wasn't
sure if she was more upset about the order she came in or that he was
going to two-time Nene. Well! He wasn't going to get away with it.
"You jerk!" Her hand flashed out striking him across the cheek. Hard.
Chaz reached up to get some bandages down from the
cupboard. "You know you really have to stop going around slapping
boomers like that." Moving aside a huge stack of instant ramen, he
pulled the bandages and tape down. "What was the problem anyway?"
He sat next to her on the beaten up couch and started wrapping her
hand. In a way he was perversely glad she'd hit him. It meant that for
at least a moment she'd forgotten what he was.
Priss was furious with herself. She had almost forgotten about
he was a boomer, and then this. "How could you make a date with
Nene and then come over here and ask me out?" With a wrench she
pulled her hand away from Chaz's help and continued wrapping it
herself. "I was outside the door when you asked her."
Chaz smiled to himself. That explained it. This should be
good. He made his voice as cold as possible. "You know people who
listen in on other's conversations generally get what they deserve." He
ignored her flashing eyes. "I was asking Nene out all right . . . "
Priss broke in as her pride flashed into a roaring fire. "That's
another thing! How could you go out with Nene and not with..."
"For Mackie," Chaz said letting the other shoe drop.
"me." Priss stammered to a stop and the flame abruptly
extinguished itself. She hadn't done it in years. She couldn't believe
she was doing it now. Priss blushed.
Chaz grinned and looked into her eyes. "Now what was that
you were saying?" He was going to enjoy this thoroughly.
"You were asking Nene out for Mackie?" she asked almost
meekly.
Chaz nodded. "Yup." God! This made up for the time she'd
embarrassed him by taking pictures during his suit fitting.
Priss glared at him, cold suspicion quickly chilling her heated
embarrassment. "You're enjoying this aren't you?" she accused. Chaz's
face changed to mirror her own glare. Priss watched as her face
changed expression. In moments she saw her own mocking smile.
"Yep." Her own voice too! God-damn it! She grabbed him around his
throat. "Do that again and I'll make copies of those pictures I took and
give them to Sylia, Linna and Nene, maybe even Mackie."
What was she? A mind reader? Chaz changed his face back.
"You wouldn't!" He saw the gleam of triumph in her eyes. "You
would." He sighed. "Okay. I'll stop." He'd almost forgotten what he
came here for. "You never did answer my question you know."
Priss thought about it. "Actually tonight's no good to go out."
She raised one eyebrow playfully at his disappointed expression. "I'm
washing my hair."
"Ouch." Chaz winced theatrically. He'd said the same thing
when Priss had asked him to go hear her play at Hot Legs. "A touch. I
do confess I fear I breathe my last."
Priss ignored the sarcasm and moved closer on the couch. "So
I guess we'll just have to stay home tonight." Priss snuggled in closer.
"So Hamlet," she said tilting her head up to his. "What should we do
tonight?"
Stifling the obvious literary reply, Chaz slowly bent his head
down to hers. The watch alarms went off of course. Quickly grabbing
the startled Priss, he gave her a quick, deep kiss. "I promise the next
one will be longer," he whispered quickly. With a surge of motion he
was on his feet. "Come on Priss!" he said as he pulled her up.
Priss was a little lost in the haze. She'd wanted to. .And that
kiss . . . Shaking herself she grabbed her keys and helmet and headed
for the door. Chaz was already closing the door of Sylia's car as Priss
came out. "I'll race you there!" Priss called out as Chaz pulled out into
the road. "The loser buys dinner for the winner!" Without waiting for
him to answer Priss started her engine.
A few minutes later Chaz walked into the changing room
grinning from ear to ear. Priss came in right behind him, a disgusted
look on her face. Sylia, Linna and Nene were already in their hardsuits
as the pair stripped and pulled on theirs.
"Why the smile Chaz?" asked Nene as she helped tighten
Priss's softsuit.
Chaz nodded at the irate Priss. "Ask the speed demon there.
She challenged me to a race."
Sylia looked up sharply. "Not in my car!" she said in a
horrified voice. That car is a collector's item!
Chaz waved her off as he finished slipping on his hardsuit. "I
didn't even have to speed. She got pulled over by the THP halfway
here."
Nene and Linna laughed. Even Priss's silent glare didn't stop
them.
Together they walked out of the changing room and into the
truck. As soon as the door closed Mackie pulled out of the garage.
Poor Priss, Mackie thought sarcastically as he pulled off the
highway and changed the truck's camouflage to a delivery truck
macro. In the back Linna, Nene and Chaz could still be heard laughing
at Priss's expense.
Sylia raised her voice above the din. "One of our retainer
clients is being robbed by a team in stolen military battle armor.
Mackie says the ADP has already arrived on the scene and is engaging
them."
"Ah Sylia," Priss complained, "you really didn't need
everyone for that. You, me and Linna can take out those with no effort.
Heck, even Nene could take one of THESE guys."
Nene ignored the dig, satisfying herself with a pledge to
temporarily disable Priss's credit cards when she got the chance.
"True, we don't all need to be here. But my sources tell me
that Genom is definitely after our hides now." She glanced at everyone
meaningfully, stopping for a three count on Priss. "That means until
things cool down we play it as safe as we can."
Mackie yelled from the front. "They're two blocks East from
here. I'll be on the West side in ten minutes." As he said it he pulled
the truck to a stop and popped the doors open. Quietly the hardsuited
Knight Sabers disembarked. Nene ran point, her ECM covering their
arrival. As Mackie pulled away, the Knight Sabers activated their
thrusters and flew to the top of the building. Reaching the top they
bounded across the building and jumped to the next. Nene and Chaz
peeled away and bounced toward the far left corner while Sylia, Linna
and Priss moved to stand at the center of the building.
Chaz looked over the edge of the building to the smoke filled
street. Below them the merc team was holding off the ADP quite
easily. Every time something large appeared one used an arm mounted
beam cannon. There were several burning cars and a few bodies lying
in their path. What a mess.
Quickly sizing up the situation, Sylia dropped first, her
customary command hanging in the air behind her. "Knight Sabers.
Go!"
Linna and Priss dropped right behind her leaving Nene and
Chaz on the roof as backup.
Eric Gorder was having a bad day. They should have been in
and out of this place in minutes. Instead they got caught by the ADP.
But ADP wasn't the real problem. If they couldn't get out of here soon
USSD would show up to reclaim their armor. Eric stood up from
behind the wreck of a car Haya had blasted earlier. The bullets from
the ADP whined uselessly off his armor. The flame concealed his
movements from the ADP but allowed him to see them clearly. He
quickly scanned the opposition. Perfect. There's the cop in charge.
Polish him off and there should be enough confusion to let them get
away. Ignoring the sounds of violence behind him Eric armed his
shoulder missile launcher and aimed at Leon's head.
Chaz was too excited to sit still. He'd been training for a
couple of weeks now, waiting for this. Sylia was still having trouble
adapting some of the equipment to fit his 'specialized' needs and the
generic suit wasn't quite what he wanted. But she had agreed he could
hold his own if he had to. Backup in a hard-suit was better than sitting
in the truck with Mackie. He'd done that once. Once was enough.
Mackie had a complete breakdown of the sensors from all the Knight
Sabers. With that setup he kept track of everything and watched out
for surprises. The down side was if he saw something all he could do
was give a warning. If Chaz had been susceptible to them he would
have gotten an ulcer in minutes at that job.
A movement below dragged his attention away from his
reverie. One of the armored suits was drawing a bead on Leon. Chaz's
eyes quickly sought out the other Knight Sabers. Linna was whittling
her opponent's armor away with quick flips of her monowire ribbons.
Sylia was systematically turning her opponent's armor into junk with
quick shots from her gauss gun. Priss was boxing with her opponent,
looking for a chance to slam a railgun bolt home. "Shit," he said
succinctly. He focused on the armored suit's shoulder and fired his
palm laser. To his spectrum sensitive eyes the beam appeared as a
coruscating ray of energy. The core was dazzling with the secondary
radiation forming a bluish corona. Everybody else just saw a brief line
of sparks where the X-rays made particles in the air vaporize or
incandesce. That didn't stop the beam from doing its job. The beam
sliced deep into the missile launcher setting off the primed warhead in
a satisfactory explosion. With a scream of rage Nene's voice came
over the encrypted voice net. ALMOST nobody else could see it, Chaz
corrected himself.
"What the hell was that!?" she yelled. "That nearly overloaded
my EM detector!"
"Me," Chaz explained contritely. "Sorry. That asshole was
about to remove the head from our favorite police inspector." He
looked back down. The fight was almost over. The one he shot wasn't
moving. Probably stunned by the explosion. Linna and Sylia had cut
the power systems to their opponents, leaving them largely helpless.
Priss seemed to be enjoying dragging it out. She was physically
weaker than her opponent, but her speed more than made up for it.
With a rapid series of hammer blows, Priss had disabled half of the
armor's weapons systems. Slipping under a wild swing, she went to
work on the other half. Chaz saw it coming before it happened. "Oh
Hell. That's going to sting," he whispered as Mackie gave Priss
warning.
Priss ducked under a second wild swing and straight into the
suit's up-thrust knee. The blow caught the singer squarely in her
helmet and cracked her faceplate. Priss's voice came over the radio.
"Shit! I can't see!" came her voice over the com-link. Chaz raised his
arm to protect her, but Nene waved him off pointing to Sylia who had
the situation well in hand.
Sylia raised her gauss gun and proceeded to knock the
advancing armor on its ass. "Priss, keep your faceplate closed for now.
I've got him." Closing rapidly she kept up her fire on the downed
armor.
Man, you didn't know when you were well off, Chaz
sympathized, as Sylia used precision fire from her gauss gun to
quickly cripple the armor. Well, that's that. He looked back at the
armor on the ground. It was struggling to get up. Chaz smiled. The
ADP K-12 on its back was making it difficult for the suit to move at
all, let alone get up. Must be one of the world's most expensive paper
weights. Linna and Sylia grabbed Priss around her waist and thrustered
up to the opposite side of the street. "We're finished here. Jump over
and we'll leave," Sylia called.
Nene nodded and sprang over using her jump system and a
brief burst of power from her thrusters. Chaz ran back to the other side
of the building and returned going full barrel to build up speed. He
jumped at the very lip of building. He got about three-quarters across
before he realized he was going to fall short. Damn. Kicking in his
flight system, he finished the jump. He'd really been hoping to avoid
using it. He landed a little off center on the other side.
Sylia stood there with her hands on her hips. "Still think the
jump system is unnecessary?"
Chaz snarled. "I don't care what you say. I'm not going to
wear those damned high-heels!" He waved back at the chasm.
"Besides, with my leg myomers I've got almost the same jump range."
If Chaz didn't know better, he would have bet that Sylia's helmet was
giving him a skeptical look. Still, she didn't say anything as she
walked over to the buildings edge.
Sylia jumped off the other side. "I think you'd look cute in
high-heels," she said as she dropped out of sight.
Chaz charged the edge and dropped off. "Sylia! You take that
back!" Braking with his suit thrusters Chaz landed neatly on top of the
truck. You wait until Mackie's finished. Then we'll see. Mumbling to
himself, Chaz closed the door.
Mason sat alone in his office, fuming. Quincy had given him
an ultimatum. Finish the Knight Sabers now or be replaced. He'd been
relieved of the Integrated Technological Unification project. That bitch
Madigan had it now. What the hell was he going to do? Quincy
obviously expected him to take care of the matter himself. The Lazarus
project wasn't really ready yet. The designs for the improved body
were at least a week from testing and it was getting more and more
difficult to hide what he was doing. Flint, over at the research center,
had agreed to store the project for now. A head on confrontation with
the Knight Sabers! He wanted it so bad he could taste it! But caution
was beginning to leak through his wall of confidence. He'd been given
authorization to use whatever he needed. But if he failed. . . Mason
paused. He had never thought about failure before. It hadn't been an
issue. Things hadn't really started to go to hell until the Knight Sabers
had gotten involved with his USSD project. He'd watched the news
last night. The Knight Sabers had added a member. A camera man had
picked out the new orange and white, male hard-suit standing on the
building next to the older pink one. Who picked those colors anyway?
He waved off the errant thought. The new one would be the weak link.
He could at least take him out. That might give him a stay of execution
from Quincy. Enough time, perhaps, to finish the Lazarus Project.
With that finished he could take on anybody. Mason smiled. All he
had to do was kill the newest Knight Saber. He walked to the planning
room. It should be easy. After all, he'd been killing for Genom for
years.
Chaz, dressed in his usual T-shirt and jeans, sat in the meeting
room. The debriefing was turning out to be taking longer than the fight
had. Priss was being reminded that there was no reason for her to go
hand to hand like that. If she really wanted a change of battle tactics
she'd have to consent to a change of weapons.
"But I like the razor gun!" Priss complained. "It has the most
penetrating power of any weapon we have." Not to mention the thing
was fun to use. "Besides, what would you recommend as a
replacement?" She could at least find out her options. She thought.
Nene leaned over to whisper to Linna. "I think Priss is just
gun happy."
Linna stifled a laugh and whispered back. "It's not how big
your gun is. It's how you use it."
Chaz hid his grin as best he could. They sometimes forgot that
whispering was no good around him. Still, he had to admit that they
had Priss pegged. All puns, aside she really did like big guns.
"I was thinking another plasma faust like Linna's knuckle
bomber," Sylia explained. "Maybe we could move your railgun to the
other arm. But that would leave you a little short of power at times."
Chaz smiled. The basic problem was Priss wanted heavy long
range fire-power AND heavy close range fire-power. The hard-suit's
power system apparently couldn't support that. Not for long anyway. A
sudden thought struck him. "What about giving Priss an additional
power source?" he volunteered.
Sylia looked over at him for a moment before answering.
"Chaz, every armor segment IS a power source," Sylia clarified. "They
function as flexible batteries." She paused. "Talk to me later and we'll
start bringing you up to speed on hard-suit design."
Chastened, Chaz shut up. Just how did those things work
anyway? He'd used them a few times. Once in combat and a couple
times in training. He still had no idea how they functioned. Black
magic probably.
"I think I'll stick with my current weaponry for now Sylia,"
Priss decided. "If you can get the faust system a little smaller I
wouldn't mind one." She thought about it. "And maybe one on each
foot."
"I'll keep that in mind for the upgrades," Sylia assured her.
"What about my weapons Sylia?" Nene asked.
Sylia inclined her head. "Nene you know we can't put much
more in your hard-suit. The power drain from your sensors, ECM and
ECCM gear is simply to great."
Nene sulked. "That boomer the other night almost took my
head off because the machine-gun didn't bother it."
"I'll see what I can do about it." Sylia sighed. Sometimes it
was like teaching grade-school. A violent one, true, but a grade school
none the less. "Is there anything else?" Silence. Then she heard it.
Looking behind her she saw Mackie's head lying on the sofa. The
droning noise was coming from his open mouth. "I think that answers
that question. I'll see you all Saturday night then." She placed a
blanket over her sleeping brother as the rest of the Knight Sabers left.
Mackie, sometimes I don't know what I'm going to do with you.
"So what do you want to do now?" Chaz asked Priss. It was
too much to hope that she'd want to pickup where they'd left off.
Priss considered it for a moment. "It's a little late for you to
ride back to my place with me." She grinned as his face fell. "I guess
I'll just have to spend the night here." Her grin got broader as she
looked into his eyes. "So. . Want to show me your etchings?" she
asked mischievously. Putting her arm around his back she walked with
him down the stairs.
At noon the next day Mackie rushed down the stairs. "Chaz!
Chaz!" He banged on the door. "Chaz!" He must be sleeping. Opening
the door Mackie walked in. He looked around. Let's see. Mess in the
kitchen. Empty bottle of wine. Clothes scattered across the floor. Priss.
Ah! There he is. "Chaz!" Mackie walked to the bed.
Chaz opened his eyes and looked at Mackie. Anyone else
would have gotten the hint when he hadn't answered the door. He
should really think about getting a lock for it. He smiled evilly. 'I'm
not going to deal with this', he decided. Leaning over he nudged Priss.
"Wake up hon," he said gently.
Mackie finally noticed what his eyes had been trying to point
out to him for several seconds now. With a surge of adrenaline, his
survival instincts kicked in. Priss was here?! In bed with Chaz?! He
had to get out of here before she woke up! He turned and promptly
tripped on Priss's jeans. 'Oh Shit! She's going to kill me!' he thought
as he tumbled to the floor.
Priss slowly opened her eyes and cuddled closer to Chaz.
"Good morning lover," she said in a sleepy bedroom voice. "Up for a
morning rematch?" she asked as she rubbed his chest gently.
"I think we slept in Priss." Chaz nodded at the clock.
Priss glanced over at it and did a double take. "That's the
time?!" Her eyes came wide awake. "I've got a gig today! You Jerk!
I'm going to be late for rehearsal!" She stumbled naked out of bed
heading for the shower. "Why didn't you wake me!?" she demanded
irately.
Mackie lay cowering beside the bed. Any minute she's going
to find me. Then.. his mind was fully capable of realizing what the
finish would be. It just preferred not to. Mackie shuddered.
"I didn't know you had a performance today. And you looked
too beautiful asleep to wake you," Chaz yelled to the bathroom.
Turning from the sight of Priss climbing into the shower, he looked
over at Mackie. "Mackie, I SUGGEST you get out of here before she
comes back," he whispered to the cringing teenager.
Mackie concurred. Unwrapping his ankle from the jeans, he
shot out the door.
When Mackie had made his exit, Chaz stood up and walked
to the shower. "Need someone to wash your back?" he asked as he
opened the curtain.
Priss leaned back into the pressure of his fingers. Man! That
felt good. "Is Mackie gone?" she asked lightly as he lathered her
shoulders.
"You saw him?" he asked as he rubbed his hands down her
back. God! Her hair was beautiful when it was wet! The water brought
out the highlights and made it look like an auburn river.
"Mmmmmm." She arched her back against his fingers. "A
little to the right....Thank you. No. I heard him. When he came up to
the bed." She grinned. "What you did to him was mean and cruel." She
licked her lips. "I liked it." Besides, he deserved it.
Chaz finished washing her back. "I thought it no less than he
deserved. Besides," he laughed, "you should have seen his face!" He
caught her waist and turned her around to face him. "It was classic."
He leaned down to kiss her.
"Mmmm. Hold that thought 'til tonight. Right now I'm late."
Priss stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. "You going to
come to the show tonight?"
Chaz nodded underneath the running water. "You bet." At
least the change hadn't taken the pleasures of life away from him. The
hot water felt wonderful. And Priss? Indescribable. "Wouldn't miss it."
"Great! I'll see you there." Priss grabbed up her clothes and
hurriedly put them on. "Don't forget!"
Chaz stuck his head out of the shower to look at her as she
left. That last line had sounded less like a reminder than like a threat.
"So Mackie," Chaz asked Sylia's brother, "what was so
important that you didn't notice Priss?"
"I finished the project you asked me to work on," Mackie said
grinning.
"No kidding?!" Chaz was amazed. "When did you find the
time!? I just asked you yesterday!" He started walking briskly towards
the hard-suit storage area.
"Not that way," Mackie called. "You think sis would let me
work on one of her's?" He shook his head. "This way." Mackie led the
way to the hanger. "She almost never comes up here," he explained.
"Except for missions." He waved at the back of the large facility to the
KnightWing's hydraulic lift. "Over there I can tinker to my heart's
content. If I could figure out a way to hide it I would have brought my
armor outside too. Damn thing's too big." The young teen stopped and
grinned at Chaz, "You should see the bike I'm putting together at
Professor Raven's." His eyes shone as he talked about his machines.
With a magicians flair he waved at what stood on a hard-suit rack,
"There she is."
Chaz stood speechless. It was perfect. Just like he'd imagined
it would be. The dark blue, almost black, armor plates against the
matte-black, flexible, plas-steel jointing was striking. He couldn't wait
to try it on.
"Maybe I should amend what I said earlier," Mackie clarified.
"The work is almost done. I finished the basic actuation system and
the armor plates. I have to wait before I can put in the control system,
sensors, and weapons in," the teen explained.
Chaz rubbed his hand over the armor like a lover. "What's the
hold up?" He had been willing to wait weeks. But he was impatient
now. He had debated about using Sho's suit as a design base. After
wrestling with the problem for a couple days he'd decided on the
Guyver III armor instead. It looked nastier.
Mackie shrugged. "Well, I actually went looking for you last
night. I could have used the help." Mackie's grin underwent a
metamorphosis to become a leer. "Now I know why you didn't answer
your door." The leer faded as he resumed talking about his first love.
"The real holdup is parts. I also have to get custom made virtual view
screens for the eye pieces." He nodded at the hard-suit. "The helmet
you asked for is too small to accommodate the large ones the rest of
the suits use."
"What about just feeding the sensor inputs through my AI?"
Chaz asked hesitantly. After his debacle at the debriefing the last thing
he needed was to get slapped down again.
Mackie blinked. He'd forgotten again. "You know, for that
matter we can strip down the control system too," he said thoughtfully.
He was growing excited. This was a lot different from making a hard-
suit for a normal person. He loved a challenge and this promised to be
a good one. A sudden thought ran through his mind. He smacked his
forehead. "I'm going to have to totally rework the actuation system
too. It would be a lot more efficient if it added to your own strength
instead of just working around it."
Chaz took off his shirt. "Well Sylia said she wanted me to
start learning suit design and systems."
Mackie paused in mid thought. "Sis said that?" he asked
carefully.
"Yeah. Why?" Chaz was puzzled, he hadn't thought there
would be a problem.
Mackie wiped his hands off and stepped up to an intercom.
"Sis?" After a moment Sylia answered. Her face appearing in the
intercom window.
"Yes Mackie. What is it?" she answered brightly.
"Did you say you wanted Chaz to learn hard-suit design?" He
asked the question liked he expected the answer to be no. Briefly,
Chaz wondered why.
"Yes I did Mackie. He needs to learn all the basic principles
and philosophies except the primary field unit operations." She
quieted. "Maybe later we can go into those too." She continued. "For
now show him actuation and armor. You can cover sensors and
weapons later." She disconnected.
Mackie looked at the intercom for a moment. Then turned
around with a puzzled look on his face. "Man! I NEVER though she'd
tell dad's secrets to anyone." He looked up at Chaz. "No offense
intended. But she never told Professor Raven some of the things she
wants me to show you." I wonder why him? He dismissed the thought.
Sis ALWAYS knew what she was doing. "All right. We'll start with
the basic actuation system."
Two hours later Chaz was even more amazed. "That's how
you managed to fit myomers into the same space with a normal human
arm!?" The hookup had turned out to be very simple. It was the
application that was giving him problems.
Mackie sat back and relaxed for a moment. "Yup. If you do it
any other way you waste too much space." He pointed at the assembly.
"That, the actuation control system and the field sis mentioned are
what allow the Knight Sabers to have the best powered armor in the
world." He smiled. "Dad figured it would take an arm at least three
times as big to do it any other way with the same strength. Using flat
motors might do it. But it would eat a hell of a lot more power. It
probably gives Genom fits trying to figure it out."
Chaz nodded. He could see why. "That's why all the other
systems seem so large in comparison. I take my hat off to him. Dr.
Stingray was a genius and a half."
Mackie stood and started back to work. "Yeah, he was a little
naive though. He trusted Genom until it was too late to stop them.
Then came the 'accident'." He grimaced. "I pity the poor guy if sis ever
finds out who did it. I'd kill him myself if I could." Mackie shook his
head and continued working in silence.
Chaz carefully kept his face neutral. She never told him, Chaz
thought. She knows Mason did it and she never told him. Chaz
reached up and helped Mackie.
Four hours later they finished. Chaz stood back to look at it.
The armor looked the same as when he'd first seen it. Amazing. All the
changes we made and it still looks the same. Of course they hadn't
changed the armor plate at all, just the interior. "When do you think
we'll get a chance to install the subsystems?"
Mackie looked at the armor. "We can probably install the
thruster units tomorrow. The rest depends on sis." He turned and
started wiping bio-fluid off his hands. "If we could, I'd leave space for
your sensors to work directly." He appeared to consider it a moment
and then shook his head. "Nah. That's TOO dangerous."
"Why?" Chaz hated to rely on the suit's displays for
information if he didn't have to.
Mackie held up a piece of armor. "This battery plate is only
about as tough as ordinary steel. Once the diffraction coating goes on,
that's about the limit of what we can do to it without sacrificing
power."
Chaz nodded. The plas-steel joints were about the same
strength. "So why not use real armor?"
Mackie nodded. "Not a bad idea at first. Real armor would
allow the suits to take more punishment. But when you start adding on
the flight system, sensors, and weapons you quickly run out of
available power. A power cell can only hold so much and a generator
can't put out the power we need in the space we have. Plus you lose a
lot of mobility." He paused dramatically. "Then there's the field effect.
THAT immediately throws all arguments for heavy armor out the
window. Open that panel in the small of the back."
Chaz did. The revealed cavity was empty. It had two large
connections and a couple sensor leads running into it. The first
connection looked, to his admittedly inexperienced eye, like a primary
power lead. The second seemed to connect to the lining of the suit. He
frowned at it for a couple seconds before giving up. "Okay. What am I
looking at?"
Mackie smiled. "That is where the Knight Sabers Black Box
will go."
Chaz stood up and gazed steadily at Mackie. "Pardon teacher.
I must have come in late. What the heck is a Black Box and what does
it do?" Chaz asked calmly.
"The box that fits in there makes thick armor superfluous."
Mackie explained. His voice turned serious. "Now this is between you
me and sis." He waited for Chaz's nod before continuing. "Dad
discovered the field accidentally while working on a new myomer
system for his prototype boomers." He smiled. "Actually, as a myomer
it sucks. Nobody's ever figured out why. But when you enclose a
volume with the myomer fabric and apply what was intended as the
actuation field you get something better." He waited.
Chaz frowned and then lightened up. Okay. I'll play the
straight man. "What do you get?" he asked in his best eager student
voice.
Mackie's smile got broader. "Loosely speaking an energy
damping field." He leaned over to the computer and punched up a
couple graphs. "Within a certain range of volume the field works best.
Too much or too little and the field power dies off quickly."
Chaz looked at the graph. The peak zone was in the point one
to point one six cubic meter range. "So?"
Mackie nodded. "I said the same thing. What Dad realized is
that is almost the same volume a medium sized person takes up." He
saw Chaz's confusion. "A medium sized human being will fit in the
field."
Comprehension dawned in Chaz. "The field is what allows the
battery plates to act as armor."
"Right. In theory we shouldn't need the armor at all. But for a
number of reasons it's necessary. Look at the second graph." Mackie
pointed to the screen. "See the area marked vulnerable zone." Chaz
nodded. "That's why we have the armor. Within that area the field
effect is negligible."
Chaz laughed. "Let me get this straight. A DPU round fired at
point blank range won't put a crease in the plate but a knife would
slide right through?"
Mackie shook his head. "Almost. The knife would have to be
mono-molecular or laser energized to pass through the armor. As for
the DPU round. Well, it depends. You see the field draws power to
fight sudden changes to anything solid within the field. But it can only
draw on the power you give it. The hard-suits have a finite power
supply. Exceed it and the field breaks down. The attack, whatever it is,
gets through with whatever power it has left." He made a throat slitting
gesture. "To use your example. If the DPU hit hard enough it would
break the field until it could reform. During that time the shell would
probably do an incredible amount of damage. That's why we practice
not getting hit. The hard-suits can take a lot of punishment. You don't
want to take the shot that they can't. The other down side is that you
CAN'T put a large person inside the field. You're almost too big. As it
is you're skating the thinning edge of the field."
Comprehension dawned. THAT was why Sylia had designed
the hardsuits for women. Space conservation. Women tended to be
smaller. Chaz nodded judiciously. "Okay. So what's dangerous?"
Mackie shrugged. "What you've been taught. Relatively
heavy, slow moving objects. Boomer kicks and punches scrape the
bottom of the effect and no matter what the attack there's ALWAYS
some bleed through. The field isn't instantaneous and it ignores all the
energy up to the top of the danger zone. In theory force beams could
unbalance the field too."
Chaz thought about it. "In theory?"
"No one's has come up with one yet to test it." Mackie
shrugged. "A long fall will hurt. A short fall could hurt just as much.
It's the paradox of the system."
Chaz nodded absently, he was beginning to understand.
Mackie's eyes snaked to the clock on the wall. Suppressing a
grin, he changed the subject. "When's Priss's concert anyway?" he
asked innocently.
Chaz checked the time. "Oh Hell!" he exclaimed. Dropping
the rag he'd been using, he was across the sub-garage before it finished
falling.
Mackie reached down and picked up the discarded rag. 'What
goes around, comes around Chaz,' he thought with a grin.
Chaz raced to the ground floor garage. Where's the car!? Priss
started in ten minutes! If he wasn't there she'd kill him. He paused. No,
she'd think of something worse. Inside, his AI took his frantic thoughts
as a signal to start a count down. 09:48 it chimed dutifully. Great. Hot
Legs was 9.65 kilometers from here. His top speed was higher than
that, but he'd have the ADP firing on him before he made it there. He
could see the map in his minds eye. Unless. . . he made an adjustment
to his mental map. 4.5 kilometers not phenomenal, but doable. If he
was caught it would be tough to explain. However, it would be easier
than telling Priss why he had missed her concert. He grabbed his coat
and ran out the door.
Where is he!? Priss could feel her anger growing as she
looked out from behind the dark blue curtain. Her hands tightened
around the neck of her guitar. He knows I start performing at eight.
"He'll be here," a part of mind said. "He had BETTER be," another
part answered.
Chaz looked down into the abyss before him. This may not be
such a great idea. He looked across the canyon. Hot Legs was on the
other side. If ran around he'd be late. He looked down. Only 32.4
meters, his range finder told him. 06:20 came the chime from the AI.
Great. At least he had spotted a good landing zone. Running to build
up speed, he jumped off the edge. 'This is going to hurt,' He thought
briefly as his feet left the ground.
Priss finished tuning her guitar for the third time. She looked
around. The other band members were waiting on her. I'm going to kill
him. She looked again at the crowd. Still no Chaz. She sighed and
amended the thought. Painfully. Waving to her band mates, she
walked out on stage.
01:03 the AI chimed. Just a little more. Chaz was looking
much less than his best. His pants and coat had gotten ripped when
he'd jumped the razorwire fence. The mud puddle next to the pond
he'd landed in had added to the decor. The less said about the
numerous small knife cuts and holes the better. He was not in a good
mood. He rounded the corner. Great! No line to get in. Chaz whipped
out his slightly muddy wallet as he ran. Cover, 2000 Yen. No problem.
He pulled up to a halt at the door. The huge bouncer calmly looked
him up and down. His eyes took in every detail of Chaz's attire.
"Ya can't come in," The bouncer finally announced.
Behind the bouncer Chaz saw Priss walking out on stage.
'00:20,' the AI chimed.
"Why not?" Chaz asked as reasonably as he could.
The bouncer smirked. "No gaijin allowed tonight."
00:00. Chaz's eyes turned cold. Wrong answer.
Priss heard a disturbance by the door. There he is! Just in time
to save his neck! With a nod to her drummer Priss started her first set
of the night. She looked closer as he ordered a drink. He looked like
Hell! Had he been in an accident? She thought about it for a second. A
smile broke across her face. I hope he made sure the other guy was
okay. With that thought she turned her mind fully to her music.
"Fabulous Priss!" Chaz enthused as he pushed a drink towards
her. "Just about the best I've ever seen!"
Priss took the drink and downed half. "Who's better?" she
asked mildly.
Chaz shrugged. "No one I've heard in this century." He
grinned. "Vision is pretty good though." Priss's face showed what she
thought of THAT sentiment. He laughed at her sour expression.
Priss decided to ignore the ribbing, this time. "What happened
to you?"
Chaz looked down at himself. "You mean torn clothing
splattered with mud isn't in anymore? Damn! Now I'm going to have
to change my wardrobe." He grinned impudently.
Priss wasn't buying any. "You look like you lost to a boomer!
What the hell happened?"
Chaz pitched his voice so only Priss could hear. "Let's see. I
ran from Sylia's to the canyon. Then, I jumped down into the canyon
and landed in a small pool of water." He took a drag on his beer.
"After that I had to run through a small muddy bog. When I reached
the other side, I climbed to the top of the canyon. Where I was met by
the local gang who requested a 'contribution.' I reasoned that they
weren't bad boys and let them off with a couple broken ribs each. I was
running down the street when a drunk driver swerved and clipped me,
knocking me through the door of a second car. Incidentally, If anyone
asks I was nowhere near there." He'd left the driver in his car after he'd
flipped it over. "Leaving that behind me I was forced to deal with the
bouncer when I got here."
"Harry? What did Harry do?" Priss asked.
Chaz shrugged. "Tried to tell me gaijin weren't allowed. I
didn't hurt him. . . much."
Priss sighed. "He meant it as a joke Chaz. That hasn't been
allowed for years. What did you do to him?" She closed her eyes. This
couldn't get any worse.
"I gave him a rather interesting 2000 Yen wedgie," Chaz
answered calmly.
Yes, it could. Priss looked up. "Chaz, I want you to apologize
and explain to him before you leave tonight. Harry's a friend of mine."
Chaz finished his beer. "Sure. If I'd known he was joking, I
wouldn't have done it. I still remember the way I was treated the last
time I was in Japan that's all." He waved over his shoulder for the
waitress. "You want another, Priss?"
Priss looked at the table. There were at least ten bottles sitting
there not including hers. "You drank those in the past hour?"
"Yep. The alcohol and sugar are helping to recharge my
energy stores. I really should eat something soon though." He
shrugged. He wasn't really in danger of running out of power from that
run, but he liked to keep it topped off.
Priss grabbed the remains of his shirt. "Well be a little more
subtle about it." She looked carefully at him. No red in his eyes. No
blurring of his voice. Heck! His breath was still sweet. "You aren't
even feeling those are you?" she accused.
His face screwed up in a grimace. "Nope. And I'm finding out
that without the alcohol beer really isn't worth drinking." He turned to
the waitress stepping up behind him. "Yes, I'd like two Long-Island
Iced Teas please. And could you please clear the bottles?" He smiled at
the startled woman
When the waitress left. Priss leaned across the table. "Alcohol
doesn't affect you at all?"
Chaz gave her a helpless look. "Why should it? It doesn't get
anywhere near my brain and wouldn't affect it much if it did." He
could act drunk if she wanted but what was the point?
Priss thought about that for a moment and then returned a grin
that would have done Jack Nicholson proud. "The manager has a
running bet. Once a night someone can challenge him to a drinking
contest. Loser pays for the drinks. He's never lost."
Chaz thought about it then returned the grin. "He will
tonight."
With her arm draped across his shoulder, Chaz helped Priss
into her place. "Didja see hiss fashe," she slurred. Priss, he was
discovering, was not a pretty drunk. After her final set Priss had settled
in next to him in a side booth. She'd been right, Harry had been joking.
After a giving Chaz a little ribbing Harry had decided he liked the
'scathing little guy.' Chaz had decided to take it as a compliment. He
had also decided to take up Priss's challenge. The manager had really
never had a chance. After Chaz had finished two bottles of Maker's
Mark the manager had given up in a rather spectacular manner. Chaz
felt kind of bad about that. Priss had said he'd deserved it. The evening
had gone downhill from there. Priss had decided that since Chaz
couldn't get drunk he was her designated driver. She than proceeded to
get blitzed. Chaz had decided it was time to leave right after Priss had
told her drummer that her new boyfriend was a sexaroid. The drummer
had laughed and Priss had laughed. Chaz had tried to chuckle. The ride
home had been kind of interesting. Priss had called him boring when
he said he didn't want to go piss on Genom tower. All in all a very
enlightening evening.
Chaz closed the door behind them. The bike was safe. Anyone
trying anything tonight would find out he was a better alarm then
anything installed could ever be. He grinned. And MUCH nastier.
Priss was half-asleep when he took her clothes off and put her
under the cold shower to wash the smell of smoke off. There were
benefits to being a boomer, Chaz decided. A human's ears would have
been broken by that scream or severely wounded when she started
flailing around.
Drying the last of the water from her still sleepily cursing
body Chaz pulled up the coverlet and told his AI to wake him up at
seven. He closed his eyes.
Priss woke up. And immediately regretted doing so. Had she
gotten trashed by a boomer again? No. Even after that she usually
didn't feel THIS bad. What had she done last night? Oh god. She'd
gotten drunk again. Fighting her body every centimeter of the way, she
pried open an eye. The world spun for a second and took form. Her
place. So far so good. She reached out. Nobody in bed with her. Good
or bad? Probably good. On the other hand, the smell wafting through
the room was definitely good. COFFEE. Smelled like the real thing
too. She carefully turned her head to avoid a spin that would splatter
her brains against the wall. Somebody in a black T-shirt and jeans.
Please. . .God. . .Not. . .Leon. Could she speak without causing her
head to explode. Maybe. "Good Morning," she said with all the
volume of a baby mouse having a bad dream.
Chaz turned from his cooking. He'd known she was awake
since before she'd opened her eyes. You couldn't have missed the
change in breathing. Priss snored. "Good morning Priss. Feel up for
some breakfast?"
Priss scrambled from the bed and immediately headed for the
bathroom. After the traditional morning prayer to the porcelain party
god she stumbled back into the room. "You bastard," she attempted to
snarl. The sound came out like a kitten's cry.
Chaz smiled unrepentantly. "Nope. My parents were most
definitely married. Besides you needed to do that." He waved the pot
of caffinated fluid. "How about some coffee?"
"Quickly." She sat heavily on the floor next to the low table.
The world was out to get her this morning she was sure of it. But she
had a plan to outwit it. As soon as she had the ability, she was going to
die. It would just take more energy than she had at the moment.
Chaz poured her a cup and sat down with his hot chocolate.
After a few minutes he spoke. "How often do you do that?" he asked,
carefully keeping his tone neutral.
Priss attempted a glare. It kind of sputtered. She gave it up as
a bad job. "Not often. It depends on the stress I'm under. The past
couple weeks have been a little hectic. I didn't mean to have THAT
much fun though." She held her head. "I can't remember much of last
night. What I do remember isn't pretty." She thought about it. "Please
tell me I didn't get drunk before I finished my last set."
"You didn't. It was pretty close though. You'd had enough to
keep you a little buzzed while you were on stage but you didn't miss a
note or slur a syllable," Chaz assured her.
Priss let her head slip to the table in relief. "Great. At least
my professional reputation is still secure." She breathed deeply to
steady the throbbing in her head. "All right I'm ready. What did I do?"
Chaz gave her the highlights. "Oh. I almost forgot. There was
a guy that came by earlier looking for you." He paused. "He said you
still owed him money on your bike. I didn't hurt him. I didn't let him
have the bike either." He paused. "Priss, he wasn't lying. I thought you
owned that bike outright."
Priss shrugged. "I did. I borrowed some money against it to
keep the band going. I was planning on using the money from that
USSD job to pay it back." She shrugged. "You know how that turned
out. The money from our gigs wasn't enough to pay off the
instruments."
"So you paid them off using your bike as collateral," Chaz
finished. "What about the money from our more recent jobs?" He had
the feeling he knew.
"Just covered my bills. Unlike the rest of the Knight Sabers, I
don't have a steady job." She turned away. "This is a company town. I
pissed off Genom before I even met Sylia. All I want to do is sing. I'm
not much good at anything else legitimate."
Chaz moved to put his arm around her.
Priss moved away. "I don't want sympathy." She looked up
eyes flashing. "What I'd kill for is a REAL chance at singing
professionally."
Chaz's blood ran cold. He was pretty sure she'd meant it
PRECISELY the way she'd said it. Another thought ran through his
head. He knew someone who could give her what she wanted. But
Priss wouldn't accept it as a gift. Her pride wouldn't let her do less than
earn it. Maybe...
Priss looked up at Chaz as he appeared lost in thought. How
in the hell did I wind up with someone like him anyway? He was great
in the sack and gave one of the best massages she'd ever had. But
aside from that, he was everything her friends normally weren't. Too
serious, quiet, rock-steady, honest, smart... She shook her head,
stopping quickly when it began to feel like it was going to detach
itself. His normal face wasn't that handsome either. Oh, sure he could
beat out anybody if he tried. But usually he didn't. Even when he knew
it might get him in trouble, he kept his 'original' face. It wasn't the
body either. He'd told her he'd never used the neural stimulator on her
above the minimum constant setting. She'd gotten desensitized to the
pheromones too. So what was it? She let it go for now. "How about
that breakfast?"
Chaz walked down to Mackie's garage. Oddly timbered music
was coming from back by the new hard-suit set up. Right where I
thought he'd be, he confirmed. Walking quietly up behind Mackie, he
looked over the teen's shoulder. I might have known. Mackie was
running test patterns on the thrusters. The control signal was coming
from a modified audio hookup. The result was that Mackie had a
stereo system made out of thrusters. Chaz reached out and changed the
gain on the signal.
Mackie was reaching out to turn off the amplifier when the
sound died away. What the hell? He checked. Power's good. Signal's
good. The amp. . was turned down. He looked around. Nobody. He
turned around.
Chaz watched from the ceiling as Mackie spun around
looking for someone. Any second now. Yup. Mackie was sitting
nervously back down. Now. Chaz let go of the rebar he'd been holding
and dropped behind Mackie, tapping the nervous teen on the shoulder
as he landed. The effect was all he could have hoped for. Up to a point.
Mackie felt the tap on his shoulder and yelped. Grabbing the
microdriver from the bench he spun and tried to slam it into Chaz's
ribcage. With a blur of motion Chaz's hand intercepted the bit. Mackie
let go of the driver and Chaz casually pulled the drilling bit out of his
hand. Mackie started to stammer out an apology.
Chaz waved it off. "My fault. When you pull THAT sort of
shit you have to be prepared for THAT sort of reaction." He inspected
the skin on his hand. Good it seemed to be healing already. "I'm just
glad it wasn't Linna or Priss. They wouldn't have been able to stop
you. I hadn't expected that violent a reaction." He looked down at
Mackie with respect. "You are FAST."
Mackie looked up to meet his gaze. "You think so?" he asked
tentatively.
"Yeah. Real fast." Too fast. Linna doesn't move like that.
"Have you ever tested with the others?" He guessed the answer would
be no.
Mackie shook his head. "Sis doesn't like me getting involved
in that end of things." He shrugged helplessly. He was used to his
overly protective sister.
Sylia. Now things were beginning to make sense. The only
person Chaz knew besides himself with reflexes like that was Sylia.
Dr. Stingray had been a very good scientist. He ALWAYS had a
backup plan. "Figures. Well let's forget about it for now. How about
we install those thrusters?"
Installing and balancing the thrusters took the better part of
three hours. When they were done Chaz stood back and looked at the
hard-suit. "Why don't boomers use thrusters instead of those fusion
ram-jets?" he asked Mackie.
"Cost mainly." Mackie looked up from a calibration unit.
"Those thrusters have to be built by a nano-tank. The tanks cost tens of
trillions of Yen." He shrugged. "Ours are ordered from Genaros
through a complicated network. The same holds true for the KSBB
system, except those we make ourselves. We only have a very small
nano-tank." He held his hands up to indicate a small square box. "It's
full time job is producing KSBB systems and thruster units. The
KSBBs are tougher than the thruster units so we don't have to worry
about them as much. The thrusters have to be replaced every time they
take a major hit, even a micro-fracture in the substrate makes them
useless." He turned back to the hard-suit rack. "If we had a full-sized
system we wouldn't need to build these things by hand. Hell, they
would be at LEAST twice as good."
Tens of trillions. Chaz had a hard time working with numbers
like that. That Sylia had one at all was amazing. She must have traded
her soul for it. "So why doesn't Genom use them? If they're so good, I
would think they would have several whatever the cost."
Mackie, still working, nodded. "They do. Trouble is nano-
tanks are slow and DANGEROUS. If you try to speed them up they
have heat and programming problems. So what you do is use the tanks
to make the parts that HAVE to be made that way and build the rest
the old fashioned way." He waved at the work in progress. "If I had to
take a guess I would bet that a few of your systems were grown in a
tank. Certainly the fusion plant and AI were and probably the X-ray
lasers." He looked back. "Your body is probably worth more than all
four Knight Sabers hard suits put together." He grinned. "If they had
made all of it in a tank you might be able to kill a BU-12 without a
hardsuit. The nanite repair system in your body is VERY primitive
compared to what COULD be done. You should have seen the
monster they had to face at Aqua-City. If that thing hadn't been taken
out by the orbital lasers. ." He shuddered. "That sort of system is
supposed to be outlawed. Luckily, the control interface is extremely
vulnerable."
Chaz finished the adjustment to the hard-suit's actuator. "How
large could that thing have gotten?"
Mackie started closing access panels to keep dust out. "It got
larger than it should have been able to. It must have tapped into a
power-line somewhere. It also was beginning to have some heat
problems towards the end. So at that speed, depending on available
power, maybe twice that size before meltdown. THAT'S why nano-
tanks are supposed to be kept in space. It's SAFER." He stood up after
closing the last panel. "Now all we have to do is get the sensors and
control systems from sis." He looked up at Chaz. "I hope you realize
how slim your chances are of doing that are." Sylia hated redesigning
the suits and she wouldn't be happy with the new design until she'd
checked every inch of the plans.
Chaz nodded. He hadn't intended on asking her. "Yeah. I
know." He leaned his head towards the computer. "Can you give me a
list of the components I'll need?" There MIGHT be another source for
some of this and Nene could help with the programming.
Mackie gave him a side-long look and let it go. "Sure." He
grinned. "Going to try to get your arguments ready?" Fat Chance. Sis
was almost impossible to argue with.
Chaz nodded. "Something like that." He grinned
enigmatically.
Nene was excited. Friday was finally here! She had her brand
new dress in her locker. All she had do after work was shower and
change. Linna and Priss had helped her pick it out. Nene giggled to
herself. She'd even bought the lingerie for it from Sylia's. From
Mackie no less! She hadn't decided on whether he was going to see it
or not. But still, the thought was thrilling! She looked up. Only two
more hours!
Mackie stood in the garage, still reworking Chaz's suit. The
actuators just didn't want to respond to the test system. He knew there
was a broken linkage somewhere. Ah! There it is! Reaching in his
hand found the connection and reattached it. There, now to retest it. He
reached out to type the command.
Chaz's AI brought the time to his notice. Oh Yeah! He moved
his hand to block Mackie's. "Time to break off for the day." He pushed
the power on the test actuation system, and it shut down with an
audible hum.
"Why?" Mackie asked. It was still early. If they worked
through the night they might be able to get through the entire test
cycle.
Chaz picked Mackie up and slung him over his shoulder.
"Hate to do this. But if you've forgotten your date with Nene you have
become FAR too wrapped up in that equipment." Ignoring Mackie's
complaints about lost dignity, he walked upstairs.
Sylia was working in her office when Mackie was carried by.
She looked up briefly into his pleading eyes. What's he done now?
Shaking her head, she returned to her work. The profit margin from the
lingerie chain was going to be slim this year. Maybe the engineering
research company would do better. She hadn't received their books
yet.
Chaz dumped Mackie in the bathroom. "Get showered,
shampooed and shaved and out in five minutes or I'll come in after
you." The door slammed shut.
Four minutes fifty seconds later Mackie came out wearing a
towel. Chaz was finishing laying out his clothes.
"You WILL wear these," he said, pointing at the clothing.
Mackie looked. What was wrong with slacks and a shirt?
Black suit pants? A French buttoned white shirt. Mackie frowned. He
was pretty sure he didn't own clothes like this. "Where did you get this
stuff?"
"Linna, Priss and I picked it out," Chaz replied. Well, Linna
and Priss did anyway. Chaz had the clothes sense and style of a
dyslexic mule. Every outfit he owned had been bought under the
supervising eye of one of his fellow Knight Sabers. "Now put it on or
you're going to be late." He looked Mackie in the eye. "And if you
think I can be scary, try to IMAGINE how scary Nene would be if you
didn't pick her up on time."
Mackie gulped. He'd seen Priss and Linna angry. The idea of
that kind of fury being directed at him was not attractive. He hastily
donned the clothes. When he was finished dressing, Chaz handed him
a bouquet of roses and a small box of chocolates.
He gestured at the chocolates. "These are for her. If she offers
one to you, bite it in half and put the other half in her mouth." Not that
she's likely to offer. He placed a set of keys in Mackie's hand. "Linna
rented a car for you. Wreck it and you deal with her."
Mackie was becoming overwhelmed. At least his sister hadn't
been in on this! He grabbed the keys. "You have money I presume?"
Came a familiar voice from behind. No not her too!?
Chaz and Mackie turned around. Sylia stood there counting
out bills. "Here, that should cover you for the night. I'll deduct it from
your store wages." She stood next to Chaz and surveyed her brother
critically. "What do you think?" she asked the grinning boomer.
Chaz gave a feral grin, growing hair across his face to
complete the effect. "I think he MIGHT survive." Sylia elbowed his
ribs. His face returned to normal. "Make sure she has a good time
Mackie," came the more realistic advice. Mackie nodded and turned to
go.
Sylia spoke up. "Mackie, you have a good time too." Mackie
nodded again and left.
Chaz sat down on the sofa. "I feel like I've just sent a lamb off
to the slaughter."
Sylia joined him. "Nene's not that bad. I'm sure he'll do fine."
She turned to Chaz. "What about you? What are you doing this
evening?"
Chaz looked downcast. "Not much. Priss is doing a gig on the
other side of Tokyo tonight." He shrugged. "I had to make sure the
boy wonder made it out on time." By the time he made it across town
at this time of night, the concert would be over. Besides, with Priss,
Nene and Mackie gone only he, Sylia and Linna were available if an
emergency came up.
Sylia stood up. "Well then, you are welcome to have dinner
with me." She smiled. "I'm cooking."
Chaz looked around Sylia's apartment with interest. There
was something desperately wrong with this picture. Despite living in
Knight Saber headquarters he'd never been in Sylia's private apartment
before. He didn't know anyone but Mackie who had. It was pretty
much what he'd seen in the anime. A few frills. But there was a feeling
of almost. . . sterility he supposed. Sylia's cheerfulness seemed at odds
with the whole room. It just didn't have the feeling of a room that was
lived in. More like a very expensive hotel room.
He looked over where his hostess was slowly mixing
something on the stove. Then there was Sylia. Her attitude had started
changing almost from the day he joined the Knight Sabers. At first she
had seemed a little tepid, reserved. She had been almost as restrained
as he had been in high school. Mentally he slapped himself. Give the
woman a break, Chaz. She has almost single-handedly kept the worst
of Genom's excesses under control. The kind of determination to do
that would make anyone seem a little cold. Sylia looked up from what
she was doing for a moment and smiled. So why the change? Priss,
Linna, Nene and even Mackie had said that she wasn't acting like
normal. WHY!? She likes me but she cares for everybody in the
Knight Sabers. She DOESN'T love me. Even to me that's obvious. He
shrugged. Trying to figure out what was going on in a mind as
intelligent as Sylia's was like a monkey trying to figure out a
computer. You get glimmers but that's about it.
Sylia came out of the kitchen. At some point she'd managed
to change clothes. She was now dressed in a light tan pair of pants and
a light blue silk top. Sylia waved at the served meal. "Bon Appetit. I
especially recommend the sautéed beef." She seated herself on the
opposite side of the table. "Wine?" She waved at the unopened bottle
and frowned.
Chaz picked up the bottle. With a quick flick of his wrist he
extended the vibro-wire claws and removed the top, cork and all.
"Ladies first." He carefully poured her a glass. Reaching over, Sylia
took the bottle and returned the favor.
"What shall we drink to?" Sylia smiled and raised her glass
for a toast.
Chaz didn't return the smile. "How about honesty?"
The smile left Sylia's face, leaving no trace behind. "What do
you mean by that?" Her voice wasn't so much cold, as it was devoid of
emotion.
"Sylia, you haven't got a domestic bone in your body." He
waved at the dinner. "It's not that I don't appreciate the meal." He
smiled and looked gently at her face. "Or the company." He shrugged.
"You've only used that kitchen once or twice since it was put in. I can
still smell the coating on the ceramic heating elements." He waved at
the stove. "I also heard you opening your utensil drawers." He paused.
"Other than what was necessary to make this," he gestured at the table,
"you only had silverware. So what I mean is," his voice quieted, and
he looked deep into her eyes, "why did you plan all this?"
Sylia was quiet for a long time. She nodded to herself. "I
underestimated you. I'm not used to making mistakes like that." She
paused as if adjusting a file somewhere. "I'm not likely to do it again."
She sipped her wine. "You're right. I planned this. Not necessarily
tonight, but some night you would be left here alone with me. Then I
would cook this little meal and you and I would talk." She shrugged.
"I had hoped to lead into things a little more gradually. You have been
adjusting to your senses much quicker than I thought or the details
wouldn't have been missing."
Chaz sipped his wine and nodded. "So what did you want to
talk about?" He picked up his fork and started eating. Sylia stared at
his hand. Chaz looked down. Nothing special. "What?"
"You used to be RIGHT handed. When. . ." She let the
question hang.
Chaz shrugged. "Just now. I picked it up without thinking
about it. It feels as natural as my right."
Sylia's head came down to her hand. "I really should have
kept a closer eye on your progress. THAT would have tipped me off."
"Don't think I haven't noticed that you avoided the question."
Chaz took a sip of wine. "The dinner is excellent by the way. You
should try some."
Sylia reached down with her fork and began eating. "Why do
you think I've asked you to dinner?" she asked cautiously.
Chaz smiled. "At first I flattered myself that you were
interested in me."
Sylia choked.
Ignoring her discomposure he continued, "The more I thought
about it the less likely that seemed." He raised his glass and watched
the patterns the wine and candlelight made. "I'm not terribly
handsome. My pheromones probably don't have much effect on you.
And you consciously avoid my touch." Sylia flinched. She probably
hadn't thought he'd noticed. "So I know that you're avoiding the
neural stimulator. It's not my mind. I'm pretty intelligent but not in
your class." He smiled depreciatedly. "I'm also the proud owner of one
of the most abrasive personalities known to man." He shrugged. "With
that out of the way, I have NO idea why you wanted to talk to me."
Sylia finished her glass of wine. "True. I don't have much
romantic interest in you. As for your personality," she shrugged, "I put
up with a lot worse from Priss. Your's isn't as bad as you think." She
paused to finish the last of her meal. "What does interest me is your
mind." She waved off his objections. "Yes I know. You aren't as
intelligent as me or, for that matter, Mackie." Her blue eyes blazed into
his. "But you are far more intelligent than you let on. You are also one
of the few 'enhanced' people on this earth. Father's nanites have never,
to my knowledge, been recreated. After he made them he destroyed the
designs and the information needed to make more. I think Genom had
enough to 'enhance' maybe four." She paused. "At least one of them
went mad from the process. It was never supposed to be used on an
adult."
Chaz thought about that. "So, how do you explain me?" Chaz
asked quietly.
Sylia poured herself some more wine. "I can't. I think Mason
is one of father's successes. The original nanites wouldn't have moved
your neurons anywhere. They would have altered the cells in your
brain gradually. I think Mason didn't want to wait. He wanted to see if
nanite changed cells could be moved into an android body without
killing them. So he used the guinea pig that was available."
"Me," Chaz whispered. The experiment. It all made sense
now. Mason was to become Largo after all. He wanted to make sure at
least one of his two processes worked first. In the back of his mind a
memory surfaced. For the first time he could understand the
conversation that had changed his life. "The doctor in charge said that
he recommended engram replication instead of the nanite transfer
because it caused less personality change."
Sylia sipped her wine before answering. "At first, that's true.
The engram can be error checked, the nanites can't. But because the
original brain isn't being used, after a few months the personality
warps to fit the new brain." She shook her head. "It will almost
invariably cause insanity. With nanite transfer the brain changes a little
at first, which disrupts the personality in the short term. But in the long
term, if the person can come to grips with the change, the engram will
adjust." She looked up from his face to his eyes. "Yours isn't likely to
collapse. But it's still trying to get back to normal though. Your natural
glandular systems weren't moved with your brain." She sighed and
leaned back in her chair. "Which is why we're having this
conversation." She got up from the table and gestured towards the
sitting area.
Chaz sat down opposite her, the coffee table between them.
"What did you mean my personality is still adjusting? I feel fine."
Despite his easy words he was VERY worried. If you aren't your
personality what were you? If that changed didn't you?
"Just what I said. While your brain adjusts to the virtual
glandular system the neuro-phages use, you'll tend to be more
emotional and more impulsive than you used to be. After you adjust
you should be pretty much the same person that you were before the
change. It's the emotionality that causes most to lose their sanity." She
paused. "When we first found out, do you remember how you
reacted?"
"Sure. How could I forget? I was crying all over the place." It
had taken him a week just to get over the INITIAL reaction.
"Did you react like that to extreme stress before?" Sylia asked
pointedly.
Chaz's head drooped a little as he thought about it. "No. No, I
didn't." He usually bottled up pain like that and dealt with it later. He
also usually didn't go out with women like Priss either.
Sylia reached out and poured herself another glass. "That
acceptance is probably what kept you sane. If you'd fought it or denied
it. . ." She didn't finish. She didn't have to.
"So now what? If I go back to what I was before I wouldn't be
much use to the Knight Sabers. Not to mention what it will do to my
relationship with Priss." Chaz sighed. Things never seemed to get
easier.
Sylia reached a hand out a little awkwardly to pat his.
"Everybody changes. I think at the very worst you and Priss will still
remain friends. But we strayed a bit. I wanted to talk to you about the
Knight Sabers."
Chaz tried to relax and put his personal life on the back
burner. Sylia made it look so easy. "What about it?" This was going to
be interesting.
Sylia walked to the refrigerator and brought back a new bottle.
Chaz opened it as easily as the first. "You know." He said
conversationally. "That stuff has no effect on me. So if you're trying to
get me drunk so you can have your way with me..."
For the second time that evening Sylia choked on her wine.
When she could breathe again she glared at him. "I'm beginning to
think you time those statements to do that on purpose."
Chaz smiled. "You'll never be able to prove it."
Sylia raised an eyebrow. "Never?" She laughed at his
expression. "Mackie probably told you that a lot of what he's showing
you hasn't been shown to anyone else." Chaz nodded. "Have you
wondered why I'd trust you?"
Chaz nodded. "Yeah. Actually I have. You haven't known me
very long. I would have thought you'd tell Professor Raven first."
Sylia inclined her head. "And what would happen if Genom
or some other organization got hold of him?" she asked in a quiet
voice.
Chaz was very quiet as he thought about the implications of
that question. Finally, in a whisper, he answered, "they would wring
him dry. With enough drugs they could get him to tell everything."
The light was beginning to dawn. "You and Mackie?"
Sylia didn't look up. "Not against our wills. Our pain
threshold is higher than the amount our brains can withstand. Mind
altering drugs produce a mild reaction at best. To really try to force us
would destroy what anyone was looking for. We were the only ones I
could trust to protect the information." She shrugged.
Chaz could see where this was leading. "But I can't be forced
either. Tricked maybe, coerced maybe, but not forced. THAT'S why
you're trusting me."
Sylia nodded. "You can even let a program develop to keep
you from doing it accidentally. Your AI would protect it even if
someone tried to coerce you. Even Mackie and I can't do that." Her
voice sounded deep and sad. "That's why Mackie's never allowed to go
directly into a mission." Sylia explained. "I know I can't be forced or
tricked. I can shut down my mind first. Mackie isn't old enough yet to
have that much control. He could be tricked." She shrugged. "Maybe
even coerced."
Chaz was amazed. No wonder she seemed so cold. If anyone
got their hands on that technology and mass produced it. . . He
shuddered. On a large scale nothing could stop it. "So why do you
think you can trust me?" he asked gently.
Sylia looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Because I'm
running out of choices. If I really want to keep Genom in check I have
to start spreading the knowledge somewhat. I've already given the idea
for a second generation boomer AI to a friend of my father's. It doesn't
use the same biological pattern as Genom's and thus doesn't fall under
their patents. He should be able to fully develop it within a couple
years."
"Dr. Haines," Chaz whispered.
Sylia was startled for a moment. "I tend to forget the future is
an open book to you. It's so irrational my mind tries not to deal with
it." She finished her wine and poured another. Her voice went very
quiet. "I'm also getting tired of shouldering the burden alone." Her
hands shook as she poured. "The worst part is: all I've managed to do
is slow them down. I can't really stop them. Too much of the world
depends on the GENOM corporation. Getting rid of them would
destroy too much at this point." A single tear ran down her nose and
splashed into her wine.
Chaz reached over gently pulled her wine away. "What do
you want me to do Sylia?" he asked as softly as he could.
Sylia reached deep to get a strangle-hold on her emotions.
With one big sniff she once again seemed in complete control. The
only trace was the single tear track away from her eye. "I want you to
memorize everything. All of it. Every detail of father's and my work.
I'm going to erase all of it from the computer. The only copies will be
in my, yours and Mackie's heads.
"What about the nanite tank?" That had to have the plans for
at least the KSBB in it.
Sylia shook her head. "That's rigged to self-destruct if anyone
tampers with it. Even Nene couldn't break the coding that locks it."
She stood up and moved around to sit next to him.
Chaz cautiously turned to face her. "After I get through
memorizing, then what?"
"If I die you step in to fill the gap," Sylia said as if the first
part didn't matter. "That gives us a larger measure of security. With
your connections to the Hou Bang you could continue where I left
off." He didn't know who she was trying to convince, herself or him.
She moved closer. "Just...." Her eyes began to fill again.
Chaz looked into her deep blue yes. "Just?"
Sylia hugged his shoulder. "Keep Mackie safe!" With those
words Sylia Stingray, the leader of the Knight Sabers, began to cry.
She cried for a long time, the sobs of a strong will that has held back
emotion for a very long time and has at last relaxed. She clung to him
as a shipwrecked sailor clings to a plank to keep from going under.
Chaz enfolded her gently, his arms providing what little shield he
could give her from the world. He comforted her as she sobbed for her
father, her mother, her brother and herself. He held her until she finally
fell asleep. Lifting her easily, he bore her to bed and pulled the covers
over her. He looked down at her. He knew tomorrow all the old shields
would be back in place. But she would know. She wasn't alone
anymore. He kissed her gently on the forehead and left, blowing out
the candles as he went.
Chaz sat in his room playing with his computer. Damn!
Shutting down the computer he got up and began to pace. He couldn't
seem to find anything to do. Well, not anything that would hold his
attention anyway. A sudden thought raced through his mind. Why not?
Chaz walked downstairs to the hard-suit storage area and took down
his suit. Usually it would require a machine to do it. Each one weighed
quite a bit and was awkward as hell. Not a problem for him though.
Moving it to a workstation he studied it. Sylia may be a genius, but. . .
Gaah. . . The orange and white color scheme had to go. The hard-suit
had been hastily worked up from stock components. Sylia said that she
would design him a personal one when she had the time. Chaz
shrugged. This one would do. He grinned. But the one in the hanger
would do better. Taking down tools, Chaz set to work.
Mackie stumbled into the building. He wore a beatific grin on
his face. Gods! What a night! Everything had gone perfectly.
Everything. The dinner was good, the movie was excellent. He and
Nene had danced until the disco closed. He'd even kissed her. He'd
chickened out at the last minute though. When she'd asked him in for a
drink he had to decline. She'd nodded and gave him a kiss that blew
his mind. Still reeling, he'd driven home, her last words still repeating
in his mind. 'Maybe next time.' He could still see her impish grin as
she walked inside. He sighed. Wonder what time it is?
Chaz looked up from his work. Mackie had just passed him
on the way to his bed cubby. Probably worried about waking Sylia if
he goes upstairs. Chaz waited. Less than a minute later he could hear
Mackie snoring. He chuckled. Looks like Nene wrung him dry. Chaz
shrugged. He didn't have to sleep anymore if he didn't want to. His
brain didn't get tired very often. But occasionally it was nice to dream.
He went back to his work. Now how did Mackie say the interface for
the thermograph went?
Mackie felt someone shake his shoulder. "Mackie." That was
Nene's voice! In a panic he tried to remember. He definitely came
home alone last night. "Mackie. Wake up." Still Nene's voice! Did she
follow him home? Flipping over, Mackie opened his eyes. . . and
screamed.
"That was hardly necessary," Chaz said in his own voice.
Mackie looked blearily around. "Where's Nene?"
Chaz's face altered momentarily to match the Knight Saber in
question. "You mean me?" he said, matching the red head's voice. He
resumed his normal face and voice. "I just thought you might respond
better to her voice." Not to mention the look on your face was worth
millions. "I'm sorry if I startled you." NOT!
Mackie looked Chaz dead in the eye. "Yeah. I'll just bet you
are," he groaned. "What time is it anyway?" He looked around. Hmp.
Must have fallen asleep in my clothes last night.
Chaz handed him a cup of coffee. "It's ten. You came in about
eight hours ago." He grinned. "So how did the date go last night?" His
face took on a 'tell me' look.
Mackie smiled. "Perfect. Couldn't have been better. She even
expressed interest in doing it again sometime." If that kiss was any
indication of what she expects, he had better make sure he ate a heavy
meal next time. "Thanks for asking her for me."
Chaz stood up. "Not a problem. You'll have to ask her
yourself next time though." He jerked the covers off Mackie. "Come
help me with something will you?"
Mackie finished off his coffee. "Let me get changed and
showered. I'll be out in a minute."
Chaz nodded and left.
Showered, shaved and changed, Mackie came out of the mini-
bath ten minutes later. "What was so important you had to wake me
up?" he growled irritatedly.
Chaz nodded at the hard suit in its holder. "I wanted you to
run a final test on the control systems. I used your design notes and
diagrams for the hookup." He shrugged. "But they weren't very clear
in places."
Mackie nodded and looked at the hard suit. The modular
sockets for all of the systems had been closed and sealed. He picked
up the fiber-optic connector. "Where did you get the parts?" The
second he asked he knew the answer. "Oh no. You realize of course
that sis is going to kill you?" It really wasn't a question. Chaz knew it.
There was no way he couldn't know it. The question was would she
blame him too? Mackie sighed and began running the diagnostics.
"Yeah. I know." The impudent grin on Chaz's face made it
clear he considered it worth the risk.
Privately Mackie agreed. The hardsuits were nice but not
really styled for a man. Not this suit though. This one had STYLE!
Still wondering where Chaz got the design, Mackie tapped the
keyboard and ran a full test on the system. The hard-suit on the rack
twitched a couple times as the program checked myomer actuation.
Then a non-standard subsystem came up. "Where the hell did you get
this from?" Mackie said pointing.
Chaz leaned over. "That still has to be debugged." He
shrugged. "I thought I'd ask Nene to do it."
Mackie started reading the report on it. "You realize what this
thing could do to you if it severely fucks up? It's plugged right into
your AI interface."
"Yeah I realize. It's also not likely to happen. There's an
emergency cut off in that system and in my AI to stop it. Worst case
scenario, I lose control of the hard-suit." He shrugged. If it happened
to one of the others, they'd be dead. The suits were too heavy for them
to move around in unpowered. He, on the other hand, could move with
a unpowered suit on with almost no difficulty.
Mackie shook his head. "No. Worst case scenario, the suit
locks up. Even you'll have trouble if that happens. But It's your neck."
He looked back at the diagnostic. "After Nene debugs it I'd like to take
a look at it. By the way, not a bad job. Couple of crossed connections
but nothing that's unfixable though." He laughed. "One that could have
been embarrassing. You had your com-link wired so it wouldn't shut
off." He laughed and typed a little. "I've changed the software to fix
some of the connections. It's easier than reopening the system."
"So what do you think? Will the system hold together?" This
was the important part as far as Chaz was concerned.
"Undoubtedly. Actually I'm amazed. You said you didn't do
any high-end programming." Mackie turned to look at Chaz. His face
went pale. "You didn't write this. Where the hell did you get it from?"
The answer was as obvious as the question. "Genom."
Chaz nodded. "It was one of the many programs sitting in
storage in my AI. It allows a modified 33-S to interface directly with
high end weapons systems. Some of the others are for breaking into
databases, code-breaking, etc."
"Jesus. Has sis seen those yet?" Mackie asked. Those kind of
programs were extremely complex. They ATE processor power.
"Yeah. Her recommendation was to leave them down unless I
needed them in a hurry." Actually, she said he'd be a moron to use any
of them in anything but an emergency.
"So what about this one?" Mackie said, pointing to the screen.
"That's the only exception. It's hardwired into the AI. But the
system is designed around it. It should make the hard-suit feel like my
own body. No lag time on the controls. No problems with sensor
input. Nothing." Truthfully, the whole system scared Chaz shitless.
The idea wasn't a new one. It was the application that scared him. To
use it he would have to let the system have direct access to his AI.
That was like plugging a toaster into your brain. If he didn't trust
Sylia's systems implicitly he wouldn't let a direct interface come within
a mile of his cranium.
Mackie looked at him skeptically. "Yeah, I can believe that
part of it. But you do know what happens if THAT screws up." He
looked up to see Chaz nodding his head. "Just making sure. The
software as it stands is fine. Once you tune it with Nene I would
NEVER change it again. Nene is the only person I know whose
programs NEVER have bugs." He disconnected the fiber-optic line.
"The rest of the system is fine. You still need to get a couple of the
special weapons pieces you wanted. Other than that she's ready to go."
Chaz's alarm went off. "Just in time, we're supposed to be at
Professor Raven's in a little while." Chaz picked up the tarp and threw
it over the hard-suit.
"I noticed you already installed the box." Mackie remarked as
they walked out the door. "What are you going to do for a hard-suit if
an emergency comes up?"
"Use that one."
Chaz walked into the testing center at Raven's and stopped.
He'd seen the Knight Sabers in their soft suits before, but something
was different. Now their smiles almost looked predatory. He attempted
a smile. "Um. . Hi. What's up?" His AI decided that he was feeling
nervous and started to produce sweat. Chaz shut it off. If anything,
their smiles had gotten broader. Sylia said not a word, she just
motioned him into the simulator. What the hell is going on here? He
looked around. Nothing new. He'd only been in the simulator once
before. The holographic opponent hadn't even been a challenge. Oh, of
course. He looked back out as Sylia began the program. She's changed
the setup. I'm about to get my ass kicked. He could see it in their faces.
He turned to face his opponent. Well, we will just see about that.
Sylia watched as the simulation began. Chaz really didn't have
a chance. The adjustment to the simulator was a simple one. She'd
measured his reflexes the last time he was here. She'd just turned up
the speed to match. A normal human couldn't react as fast as he was
about to. Even she and Mackie couldn't. Their brains were still partly
organic and their muscles and bones were completely organic. Chaz
tended to rely on his speed. He had almost no real skill at all. When
you had that kind of speed you generally didn't need it. This time the
speed wouldn't help as much.
Chaz was beginning to get annoyed. The simulator was
moving like a cat on speed AND acid. It was taking his total
concentration just to keep from getting hit. His objective was to hit any
of the vulnerable points shown. He had perfect control of his body. It
should have been easy. It was turning out to be infuriating. He'd been
forced to kick off the shoes of his soft-suit within seconds. The soles
couldn't take the stress. After the second time they'd ripped, he'd begun
to realize how much trouble he was in. His mind still thought like a
human. When he jumped he had to be careful not to hit his head on the
ceiling. Normally he wouldn't be having this trouble. He would have
been able to keep control of his strength. He'd never had to make use
of all of it before. Twice he'd almost kicked through one of the walls
when he used it as a launching pad. When he speeded up even solid
things became semi-fragile. Plus, he was running out of time. His
chronometer said he had ten seconds left to hit a vulnerable spot or
fail. Well, there was one thing he could try.
Linna, looked into the simulator. It was incredible. According
to the simulator, he was doing what for him would be the equivalent of
level six fighting. According to the smaller level indicator next to it,
this would be her equivalent of level twelve. He was fighting better
than humanly possible. Some of the statistics were frightening. His
reaction speed was at least twice her own. He was performing leaps
that Linna wouldn't have believed if she wasn't watching. Even the
razor dolls hadn't behaved like that. She looked down. The simulator
had just rerated the simulation to level thirteen. She looked up in time
to hear Chaz yell.
"Speedball!" Chaz braced himself. This was going to work.
He didn't know who he was trying to convince. He shoved with all his
strength off the floor towards the closest wall. He caught his weight on
his legs against the wall and rebounded for the opposite side of the
room, hands flashing within a foot of the swiftly dodging holo-
opponent. Flipping quickly, he again caught his weight and
rebounded. This time to the side wall. Bouncing off the unbreakable
glass he flipped for the final time plunging past his holographic
opponent.
Priss stepped back from the glass as Chaz bounced off of it.
Why didn't Genom build all of their attack boomers like this? she
asked herself as she watched his hands pass by the attack point. I've
been sleeping with that!? Priss had always prided herself on her agility
and speed. Linna had been good competition. She was better than
Priss, but only just. Sylia was better than either of them, of course. But
God! Chaz moved like gravity and he were only passing
acquaintances. Priss had never been truly scared of someone she liked
before. Than the less cynical part of her brain crept to the fore. It could
be worse. He could be on the OTHER side.
Reaching out and extending his monowire claws Chaz sliced
through the indicated spot. Shit! He'd forgotten about the opposite
wall. Flipping desperately, he backsmacked into the far wall. He felt
the familiar itch run down his spine. Damn. He done some damage to
the skin back there from the feel of it.
Nene watched as Chaz tried to peel himself away from the
wall. The look on his face as he'd hit was priceless. Nene began to
giggle.
Priss stared. Right up until the end it had been so scary. It was
like he was an unstoppable machine. Then to end up like that. She
couldn't help it. She raised her hand to her mouth and started to laugh.
Maybe it wasn't such a good thing that he was on their side. Gasping,
she got out one word. "Smooth."
Linna watched as Priss began to break out in hysterics. He'd
just pulled off an incredible maneuver! Except for that end! Against
her will, Linna joined in the laughter.
Sylia couldn't help it. The ending wasn't what finally got her.
It was the trouble he was having getting out of the form fitting dent in
the wall. Sylia covered her face to block out the sight and began to
laugh.
From the other side of the glass. Chaz watched as his fellow
Knight Sabers broke into laughter. He checked. There was only one
left standing. "Mackie, buddy, pal, could you get me a crowbar?" His
plea only served to reduce the others to helpless hysterics. Nene and
Linna were on the floor grasping their stomachs and rolling. Sylia was
falling out of her chair and gasping for breath. And Priss, his girlfriend
for Christsake, was leaning on a wall pounding on it as she hooted.
But Chaz held onto hope. Mackie wasn't laughing at least. Mackie
would help him. Chaz watched as the teen nodded and turned to get go
get the requested tool. But as he left Chaz could see his shoulders
shaking with mirth.
Mason had finished it. With this plan he could strike a double
blow. USSD had been keeping it a secret that they had two heavy,
combat class, search and destroy boomers on loan from Genaros.
Secret from most, but not from Genom. All he had to do was set them
free in the development zone. In one stroke he would be able to force
the tenants in that area out, kill one of the Knight Sabers, show up
Madigan, and further discredit USSD. He smiled. It was perfect. Done
correctly no one would ever connect Genom to the incident. He would
have to be there to supervise, of course, but the risk was minimal.
Liberating the boomers would be the easiest part. In the dimness of the
planning room Mason began to laugh.