by Dain White
I thought for a moment, looking at the carapace of the dropship, caught for a moment how much it looked like a crab. “Is this a water planet?”
“Yes sir. We will be operating at high pressure depth.”
“Hmmm” I hummed, watching the assemblers working away. “Well, it might come in handy to put some real armor on Yak and Shorty. I hate the thought of them in harm’s way, Janis – what do you think Gene?”
“Well, Janis has the nanotech for making a pretty damn fine augment suit, and I’ll bet it would work better than those clunky powersuits they had in the service.”
“That’s what I was thinking as well. Janis, can you make an armored EVA and pressure suit that can augment their movements?”
“Certainly sir, as you may have expected, I have begun this project. Would you like to review my plans?”
“Sure, push them to Gene and Shorty as well, if you please.”
We all stood around a bit, looking through the plans for what looked to my untrained eye as the most advanced piece of gadgetry ever seen by the eye of man.
“Janis these are beautiful”, Gene said reverently.
“I agree”, added Shorty while looking me in the eye, “I want one of these, Captain. No, I need one of these, sir.”
“Ask and ye shall receive, Shorty.” I pontificated. “Janis, I don’t really understand what I am looking at, though it’s certainly an incredibly detailed schematic…” I trailed off, slipping through layers into the wrist articulations. It looked like woven bundles of fibers, similar to our tendons, in fact.
“Sir you are currently looking at the exostructure of the neuronic input. An inflated inner layer against their skin conducts nerve impulses and translates into the myofibril actuators.”
I blinked rapidly a bit. “This will sense their movement?” Like Gene, I remembered the manual slap paddles of the internals in the service suits, contact pads that pressed on your joints and made you ache after twenty minutes. You had to physically move your body around inside the contraption, to make it respond. After an hour, you felt like you had been climbing around in a jungle gym.
“That is correct sir. There will be no discernible lag between their request for movement, and the articulation and motivation for the suit components. Movement will be completely natural.”
“Janis”, Gene broke in, “what are you thinking for armoring on these?”
“Gene, the cladding will be a composite of glassed tungsten, ceramide, and titanium.” Gene whistled, and continued swiping through layers on his holo.
“I don’t see anything offensive here, Janis, what plan do you have for armaments?” Shorty asked, scanning through the shoulder sections.
“Jane, these suits will have multi-homed pseudomass generators in the palms and feet, with compensated units at these locations.” She highlighted sections at the hips, shoulders and along the spine.
“So I can fly wearing this?” She asked in a voice that sounded like it was brimming with emotion and about to choke up.
“Yes Jane, with multi-homing, I can compensate for a very high focused projection of positive or negative pseudomass, though it does have limits on power consumption versus material strength.”
I laughed at the look on Shorty’s face. “Janis my dear, that sounds like exactly what we need. When will these be ready?”
“The process is very involved, and I am currently working on manufacturing the machinery that will enable production of the necessary components. Rest assured, I will have the suits completed before they are needed.”
“And when will they be needed?” I asked, quietly.
“Sir I would be pleased to give you specifics, though their moment is significantly far in our future as to have little to no impact on our current operation. Do you wish me to give away the ending, sir?”
I laughed at her analogy. Playing on my passion for a great story, and my seething anger at anyone who intentionally ruins it… she knows exactly how I want to approach this. All the same, she was going to drive me crazy.
“No, I guess I don’t. You are confident these will do the job?”
“Sir, our current mission will result in conditions where Yak and Jane will need this level of personal protection.”
“You are sure?”
“I am quite sure, sir.”
I looked at Gene with a scowl, while he tried to raise an eyebrow in defense. We both smiled at how silly he looked.
“Very well Janis. That's good enough for me. Do either of you have anything else for her?” I asked Gene and Shorty.
“Well… Janis, can you make mimetic camo for these?” Shorty asked.
“Jane, I will. I am currently working on a new type of regenerative ablative that supports mimetics. I am basing it from the formulation of Duron, with an integrated colorplast in the crystal structure.”
She looked at me with her eyes brimming with tears. “Captain, it’s so… beautiful!”
Our laughter rang out across the cargo bay.
Chapter 5
“Yak did you hear that?” Pauli asked in alarm.
“I sure did Pauli. Either everyone is dying back there, or laughing.”
Pauli was clearly concerned. “Janis, is everything okay back there?”
“Certainly Steven, though I am watching the situation carefully. If it is possible to die from laughing, I want to make sure I understand the symptoms correctly.”
We laughed out loud. Her sense of humor was really starting to blossom. “What’s so funny back there Janis?” I asked.
“Yak, we were just discussing augmented powersuits for you and Jane.”
I cringed, thinking of the ones I used to wear in the Marines. Hard to move around and full of the stink from the last poor Marine to befoul them in combat, they didn’t really evoke good memories for me. They are tough though, I’ll give them that.
“You think we’re going to need something like that Janis?” I asked.
“Yes Yak, I do. Both of you will need a highly capable system that provides maximum personal protection.”
“It’s just… Janis, I’ve been in these things, they’re really a pain. Which model are we getting?”
“Yak, I am designing and manufacturing these suits from my own design, they should be completely satisfactory.”
“Well, in that case, I’m a lot more interested. I’ve been in enough of these in the service to know I didn’t much care for any of them.”
“I am confident that you will in fact love these suits, Yak. I believe they will exceed your expectations in every regard. Would you like to see the schematic?”
“Well, I am not sure I’d understand it, Janis, but sure – hit me.”
“Kapow”, she said seriously, as the schematic showed up on our screens.
“That looks awesome”, Pauli said, leaning in for a closer look. These structures here, are these the same fabricant fibers used by the assemblers?”
“Similar, but a little more refined, Steven. I am in the process of improving the bionetics they use, switching to a silicate base, from carbon.”
Pauli whistled under his breath. “Sweet, Janis. That’s really cool.”
“What does that mean Pauli?” I asked, twirling the suit around in my holo, looking at how organic the external plating looked.
“Well, most of our bionet systems are carbon based, in that they use organic chem in a similar manner to how our own nerve structures use, propagating information through the network chemically through specific production of signal compounds.”
I fixed him with a face that I hoped looked thoughtful and appreciative, but I didn’t really understand a single word.
“What she’s doing is swapping from a carbon-based chemisty to a silica-based chemistry. This should allow her to greatly improve the bandwidth of the process because it is more electrochemically efficient.”
“That sounds…um…” I trailed off for a moment. “Pauli, it sounds cool, though I don’t understand the tech here. This is a
n improvement?”
“Yep! See, the fabricants that are used in this are incredibly small, microscopic in fact… nanotech. They communicate to organize, build structures, and so on – because they are so small, there are many of them, and communication throughout their colonies takes time. By improving this process, Janis is going to make systems that are even better at responding. This means the ‘muscles’ of the suit, which are myofiber, will be stronger, faster, and more able to repair and replace failed structures.”
I was getting a little better picture, but I was still lost. Luckily, I was saved by the captain as he pulled into the bridge.
“What’s up kids? Ah, checking out our new suits, I see” he said, floating up to my station. “Those are pretty sweet eh, Yak?”
“They sure look nice, Captain”, I said cautiously. “I’ve been in enough of these to know how they look and how they work may be different things, however.”
He clapped me on the shoulder, and used that as momentum to send him back to the helm station.
“Son, they’re going to be built by Janis. They’re going to be armored, regenerative, and mimetic – all that good stuff. I can’t say I understand it all, but Shorty seems to like it.”
“It means they’ll have active camouflage sir, like an octopus or a gecko on earth.” I offered.
He looked at me for a moment, as if to see if I was joking. “That gives me a thought. One moment…” he belted in to his station. “Janis, the Duron derivative you’re making, will it be similar in capability to the current formula we use for hull cladding?”
“That is correct sir; in fact, I believe it will be superior, as I am designing the material to absorb vibration far better than Duron. Leveraging the absolute state Gene discovered, I have learned that it can be designed in a much lighter, almost foam-like consistency that allows for rapid deformation and regeneration.”
“So when can we spin up the Archaea and fit her with some mimetic camo?”
Pauli and I laughed, until we turned around and were met by a very serious Captain face.
“I am afraid I do not have sufficient materials aboard for that sir, though I will be utilizing this formulation for the dropship.”
“Well, that’s good for now… but add that to the list, dear. If it’s good, I want it. Log that as well, please.”
“Certainly sir, that has been logged, and orders for sufficient materials have been placed for delivery to our Talus Federation dry dock.”
“We own a dry dock in Talus Federation now?” the captain sounded amazed.
“Yes sir, I took the liberty of purchasing it for us, though the cost was slightly prohibitive.”
“How prohibitive?” he asked cautiously, with eyebrows at the ready.
“It was enough to place another ‘dent’ in the budget, as you describe it.”
“Well then, very good Janis. I don’t want to waste any of our funds of course, but if we need it—”
“You want it, yes sir. I have locked that into memory. Should we task Gene with painting that motto on the side of our hull?” Janis sounded serious – for all I knew she was.
“Not just yet, dear”, he said with a grin. “I will allow that is an interesting idea though. I do like the thought of crewmembers painting things, especially Gene. I am not sure if he has the muscle control to paint something like a motto though. He might accidentally slip and paint something completely different.”
“Captain, I can imagine a few choice mottos we could paint”, I added with a grin, while Pauli chuckled.
He looked down the twin barrels of his flared nostrils at me, and snorted. “I can only imagine. Jarheads,” he added, as if that one statement explained everything.
In a way it did.
I was just about to stand up for the time honored traditions of Mother Green and her killing machine, when a flashing red screen front and center drew me up short.
“Captain, incoming hail,” I called across the bridge. I was again impressed by the signal strength, given the signal attenuation. There’s no way we could have picked this up with our old comms gear.
“Very well Yak, please open comms.”
I swiped open the comms and the bridge speakers were filled with a slight warbling hiss, then a coded sequence.
“What is that Yak?” Pauli asked across the aisle. “It sounds like a code.”
“It is, Pauli,” the captain replied while I shrugged. I was swiping through a list Janis had loaded to try and find a match for the sequence. “It’s an automated distress beacon, though I can’t remember the exact sequence. Can you get a fix on it, Yak?”
“I am trying Captain.” I replied, leaning into it a little. Janis took pity on me and filtered the set to a series of possible results, but none of them matched. “Captain, it is a distress beacon, but it’s not matching anything in our comms data. It’s close to a few, but not exact.”
“Well, do you have a fix on the signal?”
“One moment”, I replied, swiping over the appropriate panel and layering in gravimetric data. “Sir, it looks like it’s originating from Sierra 14.” I pulled back a bit on resolution and tracked back a bit. “Sir, there are three additional targets on track, following Sierra 14. Janis recommends Master designation.” I keyed in acknowledgment to her recommendation immediately. She is never wrong, and I’m not going to make a habit of second-guessing her.
“Well, that explains the signal. Talus Federation wouldn’t use a standard code,” he mused. “Janis dear, are we on schedule for our shining moment of opportunity?”
“We are sir,” she replied sweetly.
There was a moment of silence on the bridge while we hurtled towards an uncertain destiny.
“What else do we have out there Yak? Anything else I need to know about?”
I scanned around, and keyed through the remaining targets in the local sector. “Not really sir. Some rocks, but they’re minding their own business.”
“Very well, but keep an eye on them. I don’t trust rocks. They have a nasty habit of turning into enemies as soon as you aren’t watching them.” He said this seriously, but I didn’t need to turn around to know his eyebrow was at attention. I could feel the draft on the back of my neck.
“Aye skipper”, I said with a smile. He may be joking, but we all remember too well that at a million clicks, a 200 ton hunk of high mass asteroid looks just like a 200 ton hunk of high mass pirate corvette. Actually, that reminded me… with our new gear that may not necessarily be the case.
“Janis, can you help me configure for an emissions scan of targets in this sector? I am afraid I am not really up to speed yet on this new interface.” As I said the words, I realized there was a flashing layer on my starboard screen.
“Certainly Yak. If you expand the indicated layer, you can overlay it with any other layer.”
I played around with it a bit, checking the known targets first, before I hit some of the other grey targets. As a target was focused, the emissions layer displayed what looked like a series of spikes on the surface of the target. The spikes originated from the signal source, and the length of the spike indicated strength. I zoomed in on Master 5, and noted that there was also a color value for each type of emission. A key on the side of the layer indicated radar, RF, alpha, beta, gamma and other zoomies, EM, and so on. Our new Master targets were running pretty hot, and it looked like they needed to be sludged something fierce. I guess pirates weren’t very concerned with maintenance.
“Sir, I am not seeing any other emissions sources in this sector. I can’t say definitively that no other bad actors are out there, but they’re not showing up on our gear.”
“Does Janis have anything else flagged as a possible?”
“No sir.”
“Very well, Yak. She probably has every hostile mapped from here to next Thursday, so I think we’re probably clear.”
I nodded in response, and kept looking. I trust Janis, but I trust my second general order more: ‘To walk my post in a
military manner, keeping always on the alert and observing everything which takes place within sight or hearing.’
I may be crash-bar clamped to an acceleration couch, but I am on post all the same.
“Well folks, I guess it’s time to get to work. Yak, open a hail to Sierra 14 if you would please.”
“Hailing sierra 14, aye skipper,” I said, and focused tight, cranking up the signal until I had a green bar. “Comms are open, sir.”
“Vessel in distress, this is Captain Dak Smith of the independent frigate Archaea, inbound to your sector on return from Mars. Do you require assistance?”
The comms returned a hiss, then a brief crackle of static.
“Maybe they’re out of range, sir?” I offered.
“Most likely.” He clicked on comms again. “Vessel in distress, your signal is static on our end. Please squawk twice if you require assistance.”
A short pause, followed by two distinct bursts of static.
“We copy assistance requested. We have identified three following targets on your six. Are their actions hostile?”
We heard a short hiss, then after a short pause, a double burst of static. The second burst had an oscillating carrier wave sound within it.
“Yak that sounded almost like a signal we can use. Can you clean that up?”
“One moment sir”, I said as I worked on what I had. The wave form was missing all sorts of segments, but Janis didn’t seem to mind, and before too long we had a filter built. “Try now sir.”
“Vessel, please repeat your last, we may have you in range.”
“Archaea, this is the Little Sister, a Talus Federation flagged vessel en route to Merriot Base on Mars. We are…” the signal faded into a digitized mess, unintelligible.
“Yak…” the captain said quietly behind me.
I shifted the filter to match the changing signal, and had them back in moments.
“—attack! We request any assistance you can provide!”
“Little Sister, we copy and will do what we can. Please stand by.”
“Yak, keep that signal locked, and don’t stop scanning for other threats, son – we can’t afford any more surprises.”