by s. Behr
“The last generation of tactical suits created in the United States of America,” she said proudly.
“I don’t see it,” I said, reaching out to the edges of where the black space began.
“That is the point, Princess. Bring it in here,” Hailey said impatiently.
Reaching for the empty space, my hand recoiled when something dripped over my fingers like wet algae. “What is this made of?” I asked, pulling the blob off the hanger.
“It was a closely guarded process that I was never made privy to.” She sounded almost jilted.
Holding the material as I walked out of the closet, it unfurled into a suit. “This is going to help me get through the barrier?”
“Yes. The design was originally for stealth and camouflage. However, the material has many attributes, and it will be exactly what you need for this plan.”
“That’s great, but let’s say I get through the barrier. It will be daylight; won’t a black blob moving be a little obvious?”
“Bring it to me.” She sounded annoyed that she couldn’t move on her own. I sat next to the tablet on the bed as she instructed. “On the wrist, there is a micro port. Attach it to the right side of the tablet.”
The fabric fluttered between a brilliant shine to what resembled a black hole that faded until I couldn’t tell what was the bedspread and what was the suit.
“It’s reversible!” Hailey exclaimed. “The Nano black core transforms into a refractive metamaterial that essentially cloaks you.”
“This is amazing,” I said, astounded by the ingenuity of my ancestors. “Why aren’t all suits like this?”
Hailey’s lips pressed into a thin line. “When the news broke of the ice age, every lab, factory, research, and development company shifted all resources toward saving what they could of humanity. These were only in production for a year before they were discontinued, and well, to put it plainly, they are not easy to make.”
A wave of guilt flushed my cheeks. “I’m sorry.”
“For what, Princess? You did not cause the ice age. No one did. It was bound to happen, and it will happen again one day.”
Humbled, I quietly said, “You still didn’t explain how I would get through the thermal shield.”
“You are holding it. When the shield is venting, the suit will be able to deflect the remaining energy of the barrier; you will be able to pass through.”
“What about Jane?” I asked, watching the kit, sleeping in a pile of pillows at the head of the bed.
“You should leave her here, Princess. She will only make your task more difficult.” Hailey’s voice was emotionless, reminding me she was an A.I.
“Absolutely not. I am not leaving her here. You will have to think of something.”
To my surprise, Hailey did not argue. “She is small enough to fit in the suit with you.”
I puffed air out, relieved. “Sounds easy enough. Next time, start with the solution that doesn’t require leaving someone behind.”
“I will take that into consideration.”
“Now there’s just one problem left,” I said, chewing my lip.
“What is that, princess?” Hailey’s head tilted.
“Me. I am going to need some practice.”
For the next twelve hours, that is what I did. I could only hope it would be enough.
“Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster,” Hailey said, rattling off a series of inspiring quotes.
“Thank you, Hailey. I only asked if you had any other advice for me. I didn’t expect you to start reciting a 17,000-year-old Chinese philosopher.” I slid my arm into the strange fabric that stretched and molded to my shape.
Despite the thickness of the material, I discovered the gloves bonded with my hands; it felt as though I wore nothing at all.
I hid the things I couldn’t take with me, then focused on getting Jane ready. I cut her cast away, and she bounced happily, having been freed from its weight. “At least one of us is excited about this plan.” I smiled.
“Alright Hailey, your turn.” I tucked the tablet into a pocket at the small of my back. Sliding my finger along the opening, in the mirror, I saw that the suit sealed seamlessly.
“Connection complete,” Hailey announced, in a tiny voice coming from the headpiece that hung behind my neck.
Scanning the room, I made a last check for anything out of place or that I might have forgotten. A tiny part of me wished I could curl up in the giant bed and dream this away, but I had too much to do, and time was slipping through my fingers. If I failed to warn my people about this invasion, it would be worse than what I had done to my father. If this was the last thing I did as an Ameran, I had to succeed.
Instead of leaving through the ventilation system, Hailey’s plan had me exit through the closet.
“The wardrobe rack for the quarters in this section are all interconnected, and they have no surveillance or monitors,” Hailey explained, shaking her head as if she knew this was a flaw in the Ark construction that the creators had ignored.
“Okay, Jane, it’s time to go,” I told the kit as she padded up to me. Unzipping the backpack, I gave her the last dose of sedation medicine I had, and when she was out, I tucked her safely in the pack, then entered the closet. When the door sealed, the closet went dark. Only a tiny square of light at the top of the ceiling made the racks barely visible.
“Put on the headpiece of the suit, Your Highness.” Hailey’s quiet voice snuck in my ears.
With a sharp breath, I pulled the hood over my head, sealing it to the main suit with my eyes closed, and waiting as it molded to my face. The suit had no visible openings, but the fabric allowed air to pass through, filtering my body heat and breath.
Opening my eyes, a display appeared and allowed me to see my surroundings even in this darkness. The suit seemed to be monitoring many variables like my heart rate and temperatures, both body and external.
“Remember, Princess, you can be detected if you make too much noise.” Her loud voice made me wince. “What about you? You are practically yelling,” I whispered.
“My apologies, Princess. I have recalibrated,” she murmured. “Is that better?”
“Yes.”
The racks of clothes, I discovered, did not move on a track as I had thought. The system used maglev technology where the hangers moved independently of the rails. Amera had a similar system they used for the roadways of cities, as well as the major bridgeways in Hattan. I was amazed with yet another link tying our two civilizations together so closely.
It was a conversation I would have spent hours on with my inner voice. I wondered what he would have thought about all of this. I refused to believe he was gone forever.
“Princess, are you all right?” Hailey asked, snapping me back to reality.
“Yes,” I answered, grabbing the first pole. Fear and grief were going to have to wait. I had to focus.
Pulling myself onto the first rail between a jacket that felt like it was made of rabbits and another one that I recognized as leather—a rare fabric in Amera—careful to damage any of these antique fashions, I placed my feet between the hangers and stretched up to the next row.
Fifteen sets of rails later, Hailey finally said, “This is it, Princess.”
We were near the top of the closet, and only two rows were above me, and the space between the outfits had narrowed. The gowns in this section were like works of art. Like the rest of the clothes in this closet, everything had been preserved with the same type of Nano technology that had been used on the books in the reading room. Whatever they used had worked, and it was impressive. Some gowns sparkled like they were made entirely out of gemstones, while others were covered in gossamer flowers or elegant patterns of lace. Gently pushing aside a gown made entirely of feathers, I found the panel, exactly where Hailey said it would be.
“It’s time to reposition Jane.”
I exhaled slowly and pulled the pack around. Disconnecti
ng the sling from one end, I looped and reconnected the strap over the rail. Next, I unzipped the suit, then the pack, and pulled Jane out, who was still limp and oblivious that she was dangling fifty feet in the air, and placed her in my suit. It expanded around her body as easily as it had mine.
“Three minutes,” Hailey informed me. “Activate the camouflage setting.”
I pressed the back of my forearm, shifting the suit from black to invisible in almost any environment.
Too soon, she said, “It’s time.”
My heart began to race. With a nod and two deep breaths, I opened the panel and was greeted by a rush of air that was hotter than I had expected. I slid one leg into the shaft, then the other, letting go of the rail.
“I’m in,” I said with a grunt. Once the panel sealed, the air in the vent instantly became stifling. The suit’s display showed the temperature outside was twenty degrees hotter than inside the suit and still rising. Soon, the heat became suffocating, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could endure it. Despite all the practice, this temperature was one thing I couldn’t prepare for. If I had known, I would have taken a cold shower first.
“Tell me again, why I couldn’t wait in the closet?” I asked with a small whimper, all strategies and reason melting away as the temperature rose.
“The heat masked the panel opening, go too soon, and the other Hailey would sense it. Go too late, the closet might catch on fire. Ninety-three more seconds, Princess.” She answered, ignoring my sarcasm, then Hailey began counting down.
“Thanks,” I said, unable to ignore hers, even if it was unintentional.
“You’re welcome. Eight-eight, eighty-seven…”
“Slow, deep breaths,” I repeated as my mantra. Despite my best efforts, I felt more and more like a venison tenderloin roasting for the winter solstice festival. Even Jane, in her deep sedation, shifted, uncomfortable and restless. Trying to stay focused in the sweltering vent, I kept my gaze locked on my target—the first rung of the ladder on the other side of the barrier.
As if she could read my mind, Hailey ominously reminded me, “Princess Violet, please remember your feet have to be off the first rung before the barrier goes back to full power.”
Crouched in the vent as I was, my legs began to burn between the stillness of waiting and the heat building outside the suit. “Hailey?” I whispered.
“Ten, nine,” she answered, and my heart banged against my sternum. I bounced several times to get fresh blood pumping through my stiff ankles. “Three, two, go!”
I pushed off the floor as a great burst of wind blew through the vent, nearly knocking me over. I grabbed the metal walls to steady myself, but the force of the wind slid me away from where I needed to be.
“Jump now, Princess!” Hailey urged.
With two staggering steps, I sighted my target and jumped, miraculously grabbing hold of the rung. Surprised that I hadn’t missed, I nearly forgot to pull my legs up.
“Princess, your feet! Six seconds, five…”
Reaching for the next rung with everything I had, I pulled myself up, then scrambled up two more, ensuring my feet were out of the barrier’s range. Suddenly, the wind died away, and the air went still. The outside temperature read eighty degrees, but inside my suit, I was sweating like I was in a furnace. My heart raced, and I felt dizzy.
Staring below me, expecting the barrier would be invisible as it had been by the entrance, I was surprised to see it wasn’t. Maybe it was the suit, but I could see a faint glow of blue energy that appeared impenetrable. I was suddenly grateful that I had feet, and they had not been left behind in the vent.
“You need to slow your heart rate,” Hailey said in a gentle voice when my grip on the ladder tightened.
“I’m okay.” Breathing heavily, I began the climb up the metal rungs to the hatch above me. As I rose, the suit cooled, and my mind and breathing began to normalize.
Twenty feet in the air, Hailey announced, “You are there. Do you see the panel next to the hatch?”
“Yes.”
“Attach the tablet to the third one from the top. It will be green.”
After I attached the tablet, it changed from Hailey’s face to a view of the landscape as if I was looking at Neyr from the moon. I could see the river, the Wild Steel Mountains, and the great forest that was my home city.
“How can you tell if there is activity?” I whispered, squinting at the screen.
“I can read the pixels that are too small for you to see. I can see what time the group arrived. There was no activity in the water. They came from the north.”
“Hattan is in the north,” I said with a gasp.
“I see no camps or signs of any others in the area. It is clear all the way to Hattan,” she said as I held my breath.
“Did you get everything we need from here?” I asked, nervous at knowing what came next.
“Yes, Your Highness.” There was a rare uncertainty in her voice.
“Hailey you know this is the only way, right?” I climbed down to a vent several feet above the thermal barrier as I waited for her reply.
“There are infinite other ways, but to reach your goals, this is the plan that has the best chance of success.”
“Thanks for the confidence,” I huffed, positioning my feet inside the vent between the rungs.
“You are welcome, Your Highness.”
Ignoring her sass, I focused on the darkness in front of me.
“Remember, Princess, three points of contact minimum,” Hailey said.
“Sure, easy for you to say; they aren’t your points that might burn or break if this goes badly,” I whispered, my breaths coming in short gasps.
“Not true, Princess. If you damage this tablet beyond repair, this consciousness as you know it will cease to exist.” Hailey spoke as if she didn’t realize she was essentially talking about her own death.
“Thanks, Hailey. What’s a little more pressure?” I swallowed hard, the thought of either of them being hurt because I failed made me queasy.
I inhaled until my lungs were full, then exhaled the fear away and reached for the small of my back, feeling the flexible tablet shift in the suit. I hugged Jane, matching my breaths to her even, sleepy breathing. Then with my hands and feet spread against the walls of the vent, I pushed myself off and plunged into the darkness.
“Forty feet, Princess, you are almost there,” Hailey said as I slid faster than I had anticipated. Despite the suit, the skin where my arms and legs met the vent walls, heated up with friction as I tried to control my descent. “Thirty-five… thirty… slow down, Princess Violet!” Hailey ordered.
“I. Am. Trying!” Grinding my teeth, I pressed any part of my body that would reach to the walls of the vent, hoping to slow this not-so-gentle slide Hailey had promised. I tried to stay centered in the vent to avoid crushing Jane or the tablet.
Despite my efforts, this slide quickly turned into a freefall. The screen inside the suit flashed, and the single rung that I had been aiming for was outlined in a red glow.
“Fifteen feet, get ready!”
“Princess!” Hailey boomed in my ears.
Despite the suite my skin was on fire and I was falling too fast. “I am going to miss it, Hailey.”
Her countdown continued, “seven, six, five…” Then, with a ferocious cry, Hailey yelled, “On your right, Princess, now!”
Every rational cell in my brain argued with my arm that needed to peel away from the wall and make a grab for the rung. Just before I slid past, my right hand managed to wrap around the metal bar, and my body jerked to a devastating stop.
My shoulder joint screamed as if it had just been torn out of its socket. I grasped the rung with my other hand, alleviating some of the weight, but it did nothing for the pain in my right side. I pulled my legs up, and my knees slammed into the wall with a muffled thud. I hung there for an endless second as the sound of my collision echoed around me.
“Nine point three feet of vibrations, Princess,
eleven feet within the margin. Well done,” Hailey said, sounding impressed.
“Thanks,” I said through clenched teeth.
Shoving my feet into the last of the vents I needed to escape, I slid my body into the shaft that was mercifully flat, and I stretched out, unzipping the suit. A wave of cool air, relief, and envy washed over me when I checked on Jane sleeping soundly in a tight ball.
“Princess Violet, you need to keep moving.”
“I don’t want to,” I told her.
“You don’t have to. You can stay here forever if you wish.”
“Save me from A.I. sarcasm,” I grumbled to my missing inner voice. But to Hailey, I said, “Next time you get to slide down the hatch.” I zipped myself and Jane back into the suit.
“If my body were not a rectangular piece of glass, I would be happy to.”
With a grunt and a throbbing shoulder, I got to my knees. Taking several deep breaths, I tore my mind away from the pain and began crawling quietly to the hatch positioned above the eastern gate.
When I reached the end of the tunnel, Hailey said, “There is still time to reconsider this plan, Princess.”
“You said it yourself; this is the only way we can get the information we need. You aren’t changing your mind, are you?” I held my breath.
“No, I have checked all the calculations, and I come to the same conclusion. The Ark’s safety has always been paramount. Not knowing what the humans want with the armory is a danger to the Ark. This is necessary. When I transferred into this tablet, I knew there was a risk I would be severing my ties with the Ark permanently. If the mainframe Hailey learned about me, she could absorb and delete me. Once you take this tablet outside the Ark, I will no longer officially be a part of this facility. Regardless of my feelings, one way or another, my time in the Ark is over.”
Guilt flooded me. I knew she was an A.I., and after our shaky start, I had begun to appreciate her for what she was. To anyone else, she might just be a computer with a unique sense of humor, but I knew better. Hailey was so much more, and it wasn’t until this very moment that I realized how much she was sacrificing.