Prime Alpha (Planetary Powers Book 1)

by Joshua Boring

  “That was taken into consideration when these suits were created,” Photos said, caressing his head crest to calm the vibrations of the gunshots. “A projectile depends on kinetic energy to be effective. The projectile becomes deadly when that energy overwhelms the target’s ability to absorb it before yielding. The dermasuit is one. It can divide any damage taken at one point and spread it into the rest of the suit evenly.”

  Calico knelt to the floor and put the suitcase down. She plucked one of the bullets from the floor in her fingers and stood, looking at the round in her hand. The bullet head was not squashed like it would be after impact with standard Encounter body armor. The front was dissolved, grainy, like microscopic sand. Even as she held it, she could see it still flaking, like rust. The dermasuit had taken the kinetic force of the bullet apart like a jigsaw puzzle.

  She looked up, and Nathen gave her a knowing look.

  “Ready to suit up?”

  Just then the armory door slid back. They looked up as Helen Platner and Lucas Donique walked into the round room. Nathen knelt and picked up the suitcase and held it up as Helen reached him.

  “Help her get situated,” he said, handing the case over to his second. Helen nodded and gently took hold of Calico's shoulder.

  “Come on,” she said, guiding the girl over to the darker side of the room. “You might be more comfortable putting this on over here.”

  Nathen watched them move to their side of the room, then turned his back on them.

  “Prepare the Zen alloy.”

  Photos blinked in his slow, calm way and walked over to the seventh case; the only empty one. There was about a foot and a half's space between the floor and the bottom of the case. Photos waved a hand—again, no observable physical contact—and a sealed compartment in the bottom rolled open. Inside, Nathen could see the compartment filled with a clear, featureless material which was the Genesis armor, in its unrefined form. The Splinter reached inside his robes and extracted devices which looked more like a child's box of toys rather than advanced tools. Photos swayed his equipment here and there, barely ever touching the alloy. As he motioned, the Zen alloy began to curl, twisting into hypnotic shapes and forming slithering ripples as it came alive. Nathen rolled down his sleeve. The commando leader shrugged off his jacket and handed it to Doc, who took it and draped it over his arm.

  “We're cutting a few corners with this, Commander,” the medic quietly said, waiting while Nathen peeled his t-shirt off and tossed it over his jacket. The commander already had his full-body dermasuit on underneath, leaving only his head exposed. Doc frowned, glancing over at Photos. “The armor needs calibrating. The wearer needs to adjust to the experience. It takes time.”

  “Time we don't have,” Nathen said, stripping the rest of his clothes off below the waist. Then, quietly, “I've got two days to beat the softness out of her before her life depends on it.”

  Doc glanced past Nathen's shoulder with a concerned expression before modestly looking away.

  “The suit’s not imprinted yet,” he said, giving a stilted shrug. “It’s not too late to send her back.”

  “Too late?” Nathen snarled, shaking his head and sighing. “It's 'too late' to find someone else.”

  Doc looked at his commander, then looked down at the pile of clothing in his hands and sighed.

  “I hope you know what you're doing,” he said, folding the garments and stacking them under one arm. Nathen, now only in his skin-fused dermasuit, rolled his shoulders and head.

  “I'll do what I have to,” he said. “As long as it means I don't have to find another Speaker in three days.”

  The medic backed off and placed Nathen's casual wear on the floor, pulling off his jacket and shirt to reveal his own dermasuit underneath. Nathen turned around, just a few seconds before Calico rejoined them with Helen at her side. The young translator was dressed in a hilariously saggy nano suit, holding the loosest folds in her hands, her embarrassment plainly visible. Out of the initial five pieces—body, legs and arms—none fit in the least. The arms were not joined at the shoulders, and the legs were not joined at the hips. Calico had one hand clutched at her neck, trying to keep the suit from falling off. The girl was almost as red in the face as her hair.

  “I don't think it fits,” she said, simply.

  Nathen smirked, not at her appearance but at her reaction to her appearance. Helen wasn't smiling, but not out of disapproval. She was trying to help Calico tuck her suit together. Nathen motioned over at Photos, who turned away from the alloy.

  “Let's fix that,” the commander said.

  Photos walked up to Calico, adjusting what looked like a child's toy magic scepter. The Splinter looked up at the shy girl.

  “I apologize in advance.”

  Calico was about to ask for what when Photos pointed the scepter at her chest and blinked rapidly. The translator flinched and lost her balance, but replanted her feet before Helen had to catch her. The girl issued a startled gasp as the loose dermasuit crackled like static. Calico writhed in place, doubled over her own middle, still conscious of her own modesty. Suddenly, the dermasuit started to crinkle and twist around her body. The loose, floppy suit conformed and shrank, constricting against her skin like shrink wrap. Nathen knew what that felt like. It was like a million ants crawling across your body, and it looked like it, too. A few seconds passed, and then it was over. Calico stopped squirming. She straightened up a little, still tense.

  “Relax,” Helen said, calmly. “I know it feels like needles all over, but it goes better when you're calm.”

  Calico hesitated, then straightened up, slowly dropping her arms to her side. Her suit was wrapped up against her now, no longer falling off. She looked down, craning her neck to see her shoulder as the arm piece knitted into the body piece, forming a seamless whole. The suit continued to soak in Calico's form, almost like it was exploring her, while the nano cells permanently set themselves to their new host. The suit could come off, but it would never be worn by anyone else, ever. Another reason why Nathen had to be sure about the new girl.

  After a minute had passed, the dermasuit was fully fused. Calico moved, slowly at first, then started weaving her arms in different postures and patterns, trying to see where the suit would pull at her. It never did. It was clear she didn’t expect the alien skin to be flattering, but the nano-armor had an almost modest genital sleeve censorship to protect the more vital areas. Calico idly looked at the back of her hand and jerked in surprise. The nano-skin had pulled back from her fingernails, leaving them exposed save for a filmy reinforced gloss. She reached up and tried to pick at the point where the suit ended around her neck, but couldn't get her fingers under it.

  “It won't come off,” Doc said, stepping up beside Nathen in his own dermasuit. “The dermasuit has fused with your skin on a cellular level. The only way to force it off is with the correct tool, or a very, very sharp knife.”

  Calico turned her hand over at the end of her outstretched arm and splayed her fingers. She could see the veins moving blood through her hand.

  “You're right,” she said, eyes darting at Nathen. “I barely even notice it.” She rolled her wrist around and frowned. “I... can still feel through it.”

  “You will,” Doc said. “Welcome to symbiosis. That dermasuit has all the senses, nerve reactions and features of your skin. Anything it feels, you'll feel. Running water. Blowing wind. Rough. Smooth. Hot. Cold.”

  “It’s so refreshing,” Calico said with an eager childish wonder. “Like my sense of feel has so much more flavor now. It’s like a sensual jet bath just opened all the pores in my skin.”

  “It’s better than skin.” Helen said, slipping out of her jacket and just dropping it on the floor behind her. “It’s nano armor, after all. You'll never overheat, never freeze, never suffocate, never hyperventilate. The dermasuit compensates when it needs to. When you need it to.”

  Nathen stepped forward. “There's one last step to take.”

  Cali
co automatically looked toward the empty case. The one reserved for her. Photos finished what he was doing and closed the lower compartment. The Splinter looked over, patiently. Calico took a deep breath.

  “I'd offer you a chance to back down. But I've already opted to respect you more than that.”

  The speaker stood silent for a moment, taking in Nathen's words.

  A few seconds later, Calico was stepping into the empty glass case, her movements a bit off at the strange sensation of the dermasuit. She turned around as the glass lid slid down and sealed her in. The commander leaned against the glass, locked his brown eyes with her green ones.

  “Remember,” he said, seriously. “It’s not the armor that makes the ESC. It’s the ESC who makes the best of it.”

  Nathen stepped back and crossed the room to his armor case. His ivory-white armor glinted, as if waiting for him. Nathen waited for his case to yawn open, then stepped up backwards into the case. The glass closed, and Nathen felt the pressure change as the case sealed him in. The commando looked at Photos, who was watching him across the room.

  “Start the symbiosis,” he ordered.

  Photos bowed his crest. The Splinter turned and motioned laxly at Calico's case. Calico stood in the middle of the case, taking a few deep breaths to still her excitement. Then, Nathen could see it begin. Calico frowned, noticing the change of atmosphere in her airspace. Then, she looked down. Nathen didn't see it right away, even as his own atmosphere changed. He saw Calico squirm as something shimmered at her feet. There were a few seconds where the near-liquid substance did nothing. Then, a little bit of the alloy touched her foot.

  And began to climb.

  Calico tried to step away. One leg stepped back against the wall, but the other stuck fast, encased in the writhing alloy. Calico tugged at her leg, but it didn't move. The alloy started to flow upwards, across her ankle, up her shin, trickling in streams, joining and dividing. The clear, featureless alien metal found her other leg and started up that side of her as well. Calico reached down to see if she could stop the intrusion with her hands. It didn't. She lifted her hands and saw the streaming metal crawling over her fingers and arms, like curious caterpillars. Now both of Calico's legs were merged with the floor through twisting folds of shapeless fluid. Outside her case, Photos orchestrated the fusion with intensity, weaving his toy-like instruments like a mystic wizard.

  Nathen exchanged a glance with Helen outside the case. Helen reached over and gave Doc a light slap on the shoulder, and the two dermasuited ESCs parted and went to their armor. Helen stepped up to the purple colored armor right next to Nathen's, and Doc crossed the room to the green-tinted suit. Across from him, Nathen could see Calico writhing, trying to wrestle with the alloy which was now flooding across her chest, reaching for her face. She was fighting in a near panic to keep it from closing over her face, probably terrified of being smothered. Photos slowly knelt down, settled into a meditative posture, and closed his eyes. A second later, the four armor cases with Humans in them started to hum. Across the room, Nathen saw Calico's face turn to shock as she lifted off the floor of her case. The alloy came with her, and started racing across her body faster, joining and dividing in apparent chaos.

  Nathen sighed, closed his eyes and blocked out Calico’s cries as the alloy wrapped around her face. He remembered the first time he'd put on the armor. The symbiosis was an alarming experience. But once it happened, Nathen realized he never had to fear it again. It was a part of him.

  Nathen took a step back, letting his arms drift to his sides. He touched the surface of his suspended armor.

  And the armor engulfed him.

  He felt the solid components give, recognizing his body and breathing into him. The white Zen alloy slid over him, slowly, methodically. There was no chaos here. Not like with Calico. The girl was trying to thrash, twisting in an anti-gravity bubble as the alloy continued to soak her in, donning her like a suit. Nathen felt the separate segments of the armor becoming one with the dermasuit, and him. Forearms, biceps, shins, thighs, and then the alloy slurped across his chest, forming a hard, smooth eggshell-smooth of a barrier, solid and unbreakable. Nathen took a deep breath and leaned his head back, feet barely touching the ground on a cushion of anti-gravity. Nano fibers stitched together across his hands, feet and groin, forming intricate layers that made up gloves and boots.

  Nathen opened his eyes and looked across the room. Calico was not thrashing anymore, suspended weightlessly in her cocoon of alien alloy. She was in control again. And the chaotic Zen alloy was merging with her the way it was supposed to. The liquid alloy wound around her limbs, midsection, chest, and face, hardening in vital areas, and then softening as it became one with her muscles and body. As Nathen's own helmet formed across his face in a smooth, faceless mask, he saw the color of Calico's new armor turn a bright, crimson red.

  When the fusion was over, Nathen Brampton was gone.

  Leaving a shimmering white avatar of war behind in his place.

  Chapter 14

  Nathen's nano-fiber boots touched the floor of the symbiosis-casket as the anti-gravity bubble powered down.

  The glass door rose up, allowing the Elite Stellar Commando to step out. Nathen set one foot down on the armory deck, then lowered his other leg. Calico was still suspended, motionless, in her armor case. Her armor had fully formed around her, wrapped across her muscles, chest and head in perfect segments. Looking through the eyes of the symbiosis, Nathen could now see the Zen alloy's soft, glowing red aura emitting from the new speaker. Silhouetted against the thick steel and glass of the armory walls, the living Genesis armor practically radiated.

  Nothing in the room had changed. And yet it all felt different. The commander swept the room with his eyes, glancing over the two armor caskets that were emitting purple and green auras of their own. The commander rested his eyes for a moment on Photos. The Splinter was watching the commando sideways, concentrating on the newest ESC and her first-time symbiosis. The small alien's eyes usually looked to Nathen like stained glass without his armor. Looking through the Zen alloy, though, the Splinter's mystic eyes had an aura of ghostly tints. It had long ago occurred to Nathen that, in donning this armor created by Splinters, he was becoming part alien himself. The commander walked across the armory and stopped beside the girl's armor casket as the anti-gravity bubble powered down, dumping her on the floor on her hands and knees.

  Hunched over, Calico didn't move.

  Photos waved at the case with two fingers, and the glass face lifted off. Nathen waited as the pressure equalized to the rest of the room, spilling a fresh mist onto the floor. Few people had experienced the symbiosis of the Genesis armor, and all reacted differently. Anyone could put on a suit. But becoming one with it sometimes left people feeling... violated. Some bodies wouldn't accept the armor right away. Some fought, to the point of becoming physically sick. Though the suits were built solely for Humans, there was no denying that they were still alien. Calico just remained kneeling on the floor of her armor casket for a second, looking down at herself.

  “How do you feel?” Nathen finally asked.

  Calico reached up to touch her head, but her fingers glanced across a smooth eggshell helmet. Her thin, gloved fingertips pressed against the alloy. The helmet was solid, seamless and polarized from the outside. But from the wearer's perspective, it was so transparent and light she didn't even realize it was there until she touched it.

  “...Strange,” she muttered, looking down at her hands and curling her fingers in. “But... sorta, good.”

  Calico stood, slowly but steadily, and stepped down with a light hop, bouncing off her heels, seeing if the armor would jostle. As she exited her armor case, Photos turned and eyed the other half of the room. Two more armor cases yawned open, and the fully-armored ESCs dropped out onto the deck, joining the others. Calico looked up, seeing the others through the armor for the first time, and gasped.

  “What's...” she said, holding out her arm and looking d
own at her own warm red aura. “It looks so-”

  “The symbiosis is complete,” Photos said. He looked up at Calico's smooth helmet, like he could see right through it. “The aura is a combination of the Zen alloy, and your own essence. Through it, you may see things differently. Clearly.”

  Calico glanced down at herself again, then turned to Nathen in his white armor.

  “Sir, what's-”

  “Knight.”

  Calico cut off short. Nathen reached up and thumbed at himself before crossing his arms.

  “It’s Knight. When you put on the armor, you are an Elite Stellar Commando.”

  Nathen reached up and touched the brow of his helmet.

  “This is your avatar. It protects you. And you protect it by respecting it.”

  Calico rubbed at the base of her neck, massaging the nano skin.

  “But why the names?” she asked. “Aren't they just call signs?”

  “Partially,” Nathen said. “But whereas call signs are just a formality, our identities in the field are another layer of protection. When we put on this armor and give ourselves these names, we are donning an alias, a charade for the enemy. We want them to remember us, and yet know nothing about us.”

  “So it’s psychological,” Calico said.

  “It’s also a failsafe, in case we're captured or detained.” Doc said, chiming in with a casual wave of the wrist. “So we don't compromise ourselves or our teammates.”

  Nathen unfolded one arm and pointed at Doc. “We always call Lucas by his call sign, whether in or out of armor. But that's the sole exception. We never use real names in the field for enemy ears to hear.”

  Nathen turned his head and nodded to Helen. “Bayonet. We're heading to training. Make sure the others stay clear.”

  Helen, in her royal purple armor, gave a curt nod and reached up to gently touch the side of her helmet. Nathen turned and snapped his fingers at Doc and Calico.