“Cadet Ward… Have you checked your Device specs?”
The major’s question, oddly, was subdued, voiced quietly enough that only Rei could hear him. Using the excuse to turn his gaze from Viv’s wet eyes, Rei turned to Connelly, who himself was still facing the tables.
“N-No, sir,” he got out unevenly, his mind still on the cracked dreams falling to his feet before him.
“Do so. Silently, if you please.”
Rei’s brow creased, not understanding the man, but he looked to Shido as instructed and pulled up his NOED to make the Specifications Request. Why would the major ask him to be quiet? What did he expect? That Rei would whoop for joy over stats which averaged out to an abysmal Rank like the one he’d been—?
And then Rei almost choked, seeing the numbers slide up the frame of his neuro-optic.
Specifications Request acknowledged.
…
Combat Assistance Device: Shido. User identification… Accepted.
Type: A-TYPE
Rank: F8
…
User Attributes:
- Strength: F0
- Endurance: F0
- Speed: F0
-Cognition: F0
…
CAD Specifications:
- Offense: F1
- Defense: F0
- Growth: S
Rei gaped. With an emotional war covering the mélange of confusion, awe, and disbelief, he stared at the final line of the Request.
Growth: S
How was that possible? How was that remotely possible?! He’d heard of initial CADs presenting with individual specification as high as the B-Ranks, but an A-Rank spec was unheard of, much less an S. And in Growth?! The one attribute that tended not to evolve greatly over the evolution of a CAD’s life?! For it to be maxed-out from the go…
Rei couldn’t fathom it, couldn’t wrap his head around it. His other specs were believable in comparison, which irritated him, because who had ever heard of a Device that offered almost no boost to its User’s abilities, even an initial one. His Offense value of F1 meant that his attack capabilities were very, very slightly above that of an average man’s, but his Ranks of F0 in all the other categories marked him as having seen no change over the process of the assignment. For a moment Rei felt anger building, felt betrayed by a dream and a system that had allowed him to have it.
But then his eyes slid down again, and read once more the final line of the Specification Request.
Growth: S
You want me to be your guinea pig.
The statement he had made to the MIND came back to him, as did some clarity. He understood, suddenly. He understood what the AI—humanity’s single greatest protector—had been after in seeking its “variables”. It wanted something different. Something completely outside the box of anything any previous User had experienced.
It wanted to see what evolution from nothing looked like…
“Major, with all due respect… What is this bullshit?”
A voice cut across Rei’s thoughts, and he rose from his internal considerations to find a boy—another one of the examinees—standing up from the right center of the tables before them. He was tall and well-dressed, with lightning-orange hair patterned with black, and eyes designed into the same color. He wasn’t looking at Connelly as he addressed him, and was instead glaring at Rei with what could only have been disgust.
“This guy looks like he might weigh as much a wet bath towel, and his specs aren’t even high enough to counter assignment fatigue! Now you tell us his Rank is in the Fs?” he put his fists on the table and bent over them. “This is ridiculous! I ended the written section with more than a 91% score, got full marks on my physical assessment, and know I passed the third portion of the exam without issue! How the hell did this asshole get assigned when I didn’t?! He’s an F!”
There was a muttering of agreement from several of the other exam-takers who hadn’t gotten their CADs that day, and Rei saw Viv whirl in fury and start to stand, ready to come to his defense.
Fortunately, before she could get a word out, Major Connelly was already responding.
“The CAD-Assignment Exam measures more than statistical merit,” he said steadily, his voice even, as though he’d just been asked a polite question. “If you were not chosen as a recipient by the system, then I encourage you to consider what areas you could improve on should you decided to make another attempt next year.”
“‘What areas I can improve on’?” the boy repeated sourly, grimacing. “Bull! I ripped through every portion of that test, just like I bet a lot of the others sitting here disappointed did.” He lifted one hand to wave at some of the other stony faces among the tables around him. “This is ridiculous. It’s theft, if anything. Someone else should have gotten that CAD, and would have put it to higher use. My aunt is a general at Central Command, and I demand that—”
“I am well-acquainted with your aunt, Mr. Abel,” the major cut him off now in a rumbling tone that thundered across the exam space. “Just as I am well-acquainted with the fact that the general will be woefully disappointed—not to mention embarrassed—when word reaches her that her oldest nephew chose a public platform in front of more than a dozen officers of the ISCM to make a whining fool of himself.” At his table, the boy called Abel blanched, but the major didn’t let him get a word in edgewise. “With that in mind, I suggest you cease your complaining, accept the fact that there may be areas the military has found you lacking in that Cadet Ward was not, and consider how best to explain yourself to your aunt when you receive your next call from her.”
Silence took hold again, echoing in the emptiness of the endless space still turning all around them. After a few seconds Abel eased himself back down to his seat, his cheeks devoid of any color. When he had, the major looked to Rei.
“Recall your Device, cadet.”
Grateful he hadn’t been dragged into the exchange, Rei looked down at the blue-streaked punching glove of white-and-black steel looping his right hand.
“Recall,” he said, focusing on Shido’s weight. The CAD flickered into itself, reforming into the ring about his wrist. The moment the transformation was done, Major Connelly put the pad behind his back as he had thirty-three other times that day already, and extended his hand in formal greeting. Rei took it, blinking at the officer’s own purple-and-grey Device as the band slipped out from under the sleeve of his uniform.
“Be careful who you share those specs with, son. I don’t know what that damn AI is thinking, but it’s safe to assume you’re in for a difficult climb.”
The words were quiet, again meant only for Rei, and he lifted his gaze to see the major watching him almost-imploringly. Connelly said nothing more, and waited for the small nod of understanding Rei finally gave.
Then the officer smiled.
“Congratulations, cadet. Welcome to the ISCM.”
*****
By the time Rei took his seat again, the major was already speaking once more, explaining the final details the new cadets would have to take to apply to the ISC’s combat schools, if they chose to do so. Though familiar with the process—they’d been dreaming of the Galens Institute together for 3 years now, after all—Rei and Viv sat quietly listening, not looking at each, though Viv did take his hand again under the table.
This time, he knew the pressure applied there was for his sake, rather than hers.
“That will be all. This concludes this year’s CAD-Assignment Exam. For those of you who received your Devices: congratulations, and I hope to hear your names in the circuit feeds soon. For those that didn’t: best of luck, and perhaps we will see a few of you again next year.”
With the major’s final statement, the projection of the ceremonial hall flickered and vanished, leaving them all in blackness only as long as it took for the lights of the Grandcrest combat gym to come back on again. Finding themselves once more in the familiar space with its plain
floor and amphitheater seating, Rei watched as the black-and-purple assignment table was lowered on its platform back to the ground, then covered with the dark cloth to hide it from view once more.
“Rei… You ready?”
Viv was watching him carefully, her expression somber. He nodded, standing up again as she gathered her bag and did the same. Seeing her new CAD bands shift over her wrists as she tossed the straps over her shoulder, Rei made his decision.
“Viv. Come with me.”
Not waiting for an answer, he turned away from her and started through the tables, heading for the same smaller door that led into the back corridors they’d been directed through to the medical facilities for the physical assessment. Hearing her surprised call for him to wait up, he slowed down until her hurried footsteps were on his heels, then slipped into the hall, leading the way. He knew where they were going by heart, having taken the path more times than he cared to think about almost every day for the duration at his time at Grandcrest.
Reaching the door he was looking for, Rei put a hand on the plasteel surface. It read his allowance to enter, and slid open at once. Stepping back, he turned to find a flushed Viv right behind him.
“Inside,” he said, motioning into the long room beyond the opening, its length lined on either side with 10-foot-high, multi-layered shelves on which various appliances, solutions, drones, and tools sat. “I need to show you something.”
Viv raised an eyebrow at him. “And you need to show it to me in the custodial closet because…?”
“Just get in, Viv. Please.”
Rei hadn’t meant to sound desperate, but he didn’t think his imploring could have come off any other way. Still, it did the trick, because Viv’s face went from skeptically confused to concerned, and she stepped smartly by him into the room. Following her, Rei let the door slide shut behind them before opening his mouth to speak.
Viv, though, beat him to it.
“Are you okay?”
He stuttered to a halt. She’d turned to face him, and was clutching at her bag straps like they were a lifeline. Her face had fallen again, and the sadness there pulled at Rei’s heart. His best friend in this or any other system had just been assigned a CAD that would change her life. She was walking the path they’d been talking about since the day they’d realized they both wanted to be Users.
And yet here she was, worried about him…
Good friends can be hard to find in the world you’re about to share.
Major Connelly’s words—spoken plainly in the warm light of the assessment suite not two hours ago—came back to him then, and any reservations Rei had had about showing Viv what he’d dragged her to the custodial closet for vanished.
Taking a breath, he lifted his right wrist—presenting Shido to her to look more closely at—pulling up the Specification Request again to grant her permission to examine his specs with a few quick commands in his NOED.
“You tell me,” he answered breathlessly.
Viv frowned at that, not understanding. After a moment she let go of her bag and took his arm with one hand, holding the Device steady with the other. Her bilateral neuro-optic flared, and Rei saw the tiny lines of script scroll upward across her retinas as she, too, made a request.
The reaction was predictable. At first Viv’s expression grew more and more crestfallen. Rei could see her heart breaking, could see her watching their paths diverge so absolutely, there was no hiding her sadness and disappointment. His User-specs of universal F0s slipped by her vision first, followed by starting lines of Shido’s CAD-specs.
Then, at last, he saw the script stop in her frame, and Viv stared.
For a good ten seconds she didn’t budge, eyes only barely moving as she read the last line of the Request again, then again, then again. After going over it what must have been twenty times Viv dismissed the display, her vision clearing so that she could meet his gaze. They stood like that for a little while, Rei waiting, Viv processing.
Then she opened her mouth.
“REI, WHAT THE FU—?!”
“SHH!” Rei got a hand over her mouth in time to cut off the tirade of expletives he had no doubt was coming. Whereas once he might have knocked Viv back a step as he half-collided with her in his desperation to shut her up, she didn’t so much as flinch now, her new CAD specs holding her as firm as a wall.
Ignoring a flair of jealousy as he realized that Viv—already an ace of the Grandcrest combat team—was probably exponentially faster and stronger now than she had been even an hour ago, Rei held his hand tightly in place.
“SHH, Viv!” he hissed. “I dragged you in here so I could share this quietly, not for you to bring half the damn building running!”
In his grasp Viv went rigid, blue eyes wide as she took him in with a disbelief that had nothing to do with him clapping five fingers around her mouth.
Eventually, she finally relaxed a little, and Rei pulled his hand away, stepping back again.
“Rei…” she began in a loud hiss, still not looking away from him. “An S… An S?!”
“I know,” Rei answered with a sigh, his back finding the support beam of one of the shelves behind him, and he let himself slide to the ground. “I know, Viv!”
“But… how?! I’ve never heard of a CAD being assigned with anything higher than a B-Ranked spec! And in Growth! This can’t be normal.”
“No way.” Rei agreed with a shake of his head, gazing across the aisle at the clear containers of cleaning solvent on the bottom shelf opposite him, like an explanation might magically appear somewhere in the text of their labels. “I haven’t even heard of an A-Rank spec being handed out like this, much less an S…”
They were quite for a while, neither looking at each other, involved in their own churning disbelief…
“How do you… What do you do with that?” Viv at last asked out loud. “F1-Offense…” She finally dropped her eyes to him. “Can I see Shido again? Up close this time.”
Without a word, Rei lifting his right hand.
“Call.”
The band around his wrist shimmered, then the black steel grip capped by white plating and blue vysetrium lines materialized in and over his fist. Viv stepped towards him, taking the Device in both hands, studying it closely.
“A-Type?” she asked of herself. “Isn’t this a Brawler weapon?”
Rei frowned, considering. In the excitement—or shock, more like—of his Growth spec, he’d completely forgotten that other odd detail about the CAD.
“Yeah…” he answered slowly, taking the punching-glove in carefully for the second time. “That’s not completely unheard of, though. Lots of Atypicals start off looking like something out of the other Types, or develop adaptive Abilities. But still…” He lifted his left hand to his face. The other half of his Device hung from his wrist, limp and innocent, as useless as common jewelry. “Maybe it’s got something to do with getting this one to activate?”
“Maybe…” Viv let his right hand go, kneeling down before him to reach for his left. She, too, took in the unchanged band. “I’m not completely surprised, though… You’re other specs are so trash you should be glad you’re not going to be made to bang your opponents over the head with just this.” She shook the wrist for emphasis.
“Thanks for the encouragement,” Rei muttered, tugging his arm free from her grip. Viv almost smiled then, one corner of her mouth twisting upward.
Then even that hint of amusement vanished.
“Do you have a plan?”
It was a question Rei should have expected. Probably even had an answer to. But given the scramble he was already in to get any kind of solid footing on his situation, he had nothing and less to respond with.
His silence, apparently, said as much.
“You should still apply to Galens.”
The statement was so unexpected, Rei was sure for a moment he’d misheard. When his mind caught up to the words, assuring him he’d made them
out right, he squinted in concern at Viv.
“Is your new neuroline frying your head already? You should definitely have that checked by the evaluators before we get out of here.”
Viv, though, wasn’t in a joking mood. “I’m serious, Rei. Your overall specs suck—there’s no denying it—but this is huge. An S-Rank spec out the gate? In Growth? If anything, you might be more interesting to the Institute’s board of admissions then just another person with decent test scores and a strong CAD.”
Rei shook his head. “Don’t tease me, Viv. I’m an F8. An F. 8. Galens has never accepted anyone lower than a D-Rank, and even the D0s and 1s they take in are always exceptional in some other way.”
“Sure. But they’ve never accepted someone with an S-Ranked spec either, and in the one CAD attribute that measure how fast and how far your Device can improve.”
Rei had no response to that. He wasn’t sold on the idea of making a fool of himself, but he couldn’t help but concede that there was a fraction of logic in Viv’s argument. Maybe.
“Just apply with me,” Viv pressed him, taking advantage of the crack in his certainty. “Please. I don’t even care if you put your application in to other schools. Just apply to Galens with me.”
Rei snorted. “What other schools? With an F8, I’d be lucky if the ISCM doesn’t just have me pretend I never got a CAD and make me go into tactics or combat theory.”
“Then you have nothing to lose, do you?”
It was, of course, the base truth of the matter.
Iron Prince: A Progression Sci-Fi Epic (Warformed: Stormweaver Book 1) Page 9