“Unfortunately, no. It has to be a living crewmember with genuine Quetanae nanites that the system recognizes for credentialing purposes,” Kalaya informed us quietly. An uneasy feeling registered in my gut as I suddenly noticed both she and Kodo staring at me.
“Oh! No, no, no.” I backpedaled in a panic. “Kalaya, you said you removed all the nanites from my body after I healed, so there is no way I still have them! Right?”
“Honey, I removed as many of them as I could, but a funny thing happened while Kodo was asleep all those years.”
“Funny, ha ha? Because I’m not laughing!” I half-screamed at my friend.
“What are you talking about, Laree?” Hannah came up and put her arm around my shoulder.
Looking at her, I explained. “When I got hurt, it wasn’t as minor as the reports claimed; I was badly injured and could have died. Kalaya didn’t want to use Quetanae drugs on me because they had no idea of the effects, so they injected me with the safest treatment they knew – nanites. They saved my life.”
“I knew it!” Hannah crowed. “There isn’t a drug even conceived of that can re-grow teeth! I knew that explanation was bogus!”
“Yes, well, Kalaya assured me that she removed them, all of them!” I said crossly.
Kalaya sighed and looked at Kodo for support, but finally turned back to me and explained, “Laree, Kodo’s nanites were active and evolving for that whole 987 years. Yes, they still have the required markers for the Aurora to recognize them as authentic. But they have become much more advanced, self-replicating and even self-aware to some degree. For whatever reason, not all of them answered my recall orders when I attempted to extract them from your body. I’m sorry! I had hoped that there were too few of them to be detected when you rejoined the Jeff, and that part worked out. I thought we would have more time to sort all this out. In the meantime, as you know, they aren’t harming you in any way. They would never harm you, Laree.”
“Except to virtually volunteer her for a suicide mission!” Max snarled savagely. “Inject me with the damn things, I’ll go!”
“It would take several hours for the nanites serum to take hold enough for the Aurora to accept you, if they did at all,” Kalaya countered. “Those are hours we don’t have and uncertainty we don’t need.”
I grabbed hold of Max’s arm and shushed him like the little boy he so often still acted like. Then I turned to Kalaya and stared into her bright cerulean eyes. Yes, she had lied to me, and yes, she was well aware how big a deal having nanites in my body was to me. But I couldn’t fault her logic or be mad at her. She gazed back at me with that same look she had when she was protecting Kodo. I was honored that she cared enough to think that way about me as well. Wiping a tear off my cheek, I straightened up and whispered, “What do you need me to do?”
“First, we need to get you suited up,” Kalaya smirked, sounding a bit more like her usual self. She even changed into a normal jumpsuit, albeit a skillfully tailored and form-fitting one.
“Wait, you’re not going to put me into one of these are you?” I asked, tapping the massive arm of Kodo’s armor. “I don’t think I would be able to move at all.”
“Oh, don’t be silly, I designed something for you much more appropriate to your cultural norms.” She sauntered over to another cabinet and waved her hand through the door’s controller. It slid open. “Ta da!” Kalaya exclaimed in her best game show voice. She stepped aside to reveal a single hanger holding a metallic…bikini?
“Oh, hell, no! I am not wearing that into a close-quarter engagement with a bunch of marines!”
She looked from the bikini, to me, then back to the bikini. “Why not? All your great movie heroines show a great deal of skin going into battle; I thought it would inspire you!”
“Kalaya, that thing is just a piece of string!”
“Not just a piece of string,” she countered, “a high-end kinetic dampening field generator! You could skip through a minefield with this baby and never get a scratch. And it's guaranteed not to fade, shrink, or pill!”
“Kalaya!”
She giggled slightly, enjoying everyone’s awkward reactions at my expense. “Don’t worry, girlfriend, I won’t actually make you wear it into harm’s way. I made it for you in case you ever stumbled across the pool, and I couldn’t resist seeing the look on your face,” she beamed. Well, that figures. I should have known it was one of her jokes. Wait, we have a pool?
“Well,” Hannah gushed, slipping around behind Kalaya and snatching the flimsy garment. “If she doesn’t want it, I’ll gladly take it off her hands; I think it’s hot!” Grinning broadly, she returned to her original spot next to Elleen and held it up to the light.
“Umm…since it was designed for Laree, don’t you think it will be a bit…umm…tight on you?” whispered a clearly scandalized Elleen, but still loud enough for the rest of us to hear.
“Oh, I intend to make this fabric sing for its momma!” Hannah nodded saucily. “Trust me; the results will be beyond spectacular!”
“Ahem, well!” Kalaya cut in with a great deal of exaggeration, drawing our attention back to her. “Your real suit was just finished, so do me a favor and take care of it, won’t you?”
She ran her hand over the controls and the cabinet that had held the swimsuit swung away. A new cabinet holding something else locked into its place. It was another suit of black armor, but not nearly as tall or bulky as the one Kodo was wearing. It seemed to be made of the same heavy mesh that was behind the heavy plating on his suit. There were a few places where it bulged out slightly to protect shins, thighs, and forearms, but it mostly resembled an honest-to-god catsuit. Thankfully, this version didn’t have all the equipment ports and weaponry that Kodo’s did, but there was a place for a combat knife and a pair of pistols. Running down each arm, down each side and leg to the armored boot was a strip of soft fuzzy fabric.
“Well, it’s better than a bikini, I guess,” I whispered somewhat in awe.
“It comes in fuchsia, too, but I just don’t see that shade complimenting your skin tones,” Kalaya chuckled approvingly, eyeing it up and down.
“Excuse me for interrupting fashion hour,” Max growled, “but are you all forgetting we are under attack by people trying to kill us?”
“Don’t worry, Max. The other Kalaya is keeping an eye on the battle for us,” Elleen said, putting a hand on his shoulder and pointing behind us, where Kalaya in her military uniform was still busily monitoring screens and tapping out commands. My roommate had inched forward until she was standing very close to my brother, eyeing him with some speculation.
Shaking my head to clear the distracting image, I continued. “Ok, so what does this suit do?”
“This is an interceptor model field combat suit used by our police, primarily in urban settings, spaceports infiltrated by pirates or drug dealers, etc. Obviously not as heavily armored as the one Kodo is wearing, but it will stop most ordinary beam and kinetic attacks.”
I stepped closer to examine the fabric. “It almost looks alive.”
“Not in the sense you’re thinking,” Kalaya smiled. “But it is comprised primarily of nanites. These generic fabric nanites will interface with your more advanced resident little soldiers to boost the performance of the suit. I’ll explain more once we get you in the suit, which should be interesting in itself.”
“What? Why?” My nervousness was rising.
“Well, Kodo’s armor utilizes a mesh undersuit to provide better connectivity for all the high-draw devices integrated into its framework. Yours is a much more intuitive design, more like a second skin. And a second skin wouldn’t be of much use if there was a lot of vastly unnecessary fabric in the way.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning you need to have direct skin-to-suit contact…everywhere.”
“Like naked? This isn’t another joke like the bikini, is it?”
“Actually,” Kodo chimed in, “skin-to-suit interfaces are quite common, and time is short so…�
��
“Right!” Hannah exclaimed taking charge. “Alright, gentlemen, our little filly here is bashful so faces up against the wall and no peeking! Elleen, grab the suit, I’ll get her undressed.” Dutifully, the men complied without a word.
“Wait…you’re going to undress me?” I protested to no avail as she unzipped, pulled, and loosened everywhere at once. Before I knew it, I was standing shivering in my underwear. “You’re way too good at this,” I muttered resentfully.
“Relax, Laree, I’m a doctor!” she chuckled. “But to get really good at this kind of thing, you have to spend a good deal of misspent youth in the back seat of an orbital shuttle.”
Thankfully, Elleen’s arrival with the suit saved me from noticing the last and most vital pieces of my clothes being whisked away; the woman was a magician! An evil magician, but a magician still! So there I was in a glass room with my boss, my brother, and a man I have a crush on…utterly naked and about to go into combat! Why did I get out of bed this morning?
With detailed and grossly overplayed anatomical instructions from Kalaya, the two human girls finally managed to squeeze me into the skintight suit and seal me in. Instantly, I felt a pleasant warmth and a tightening sensation. It was similar to the tingling I felt when Kalaya touched me, but it wasn’t as foreign feeling.
“I feel strange,” I ventured.
“Of course, you do. Your nanites are interacting with the suit and figuring out a pecking order of sorts. The tingling will subside shortly. This is a standard suit model; but with Kodo’s enhanced nanites, I expect they won’t remain standard for very long. I’ve noticed the little buggers have a propensity for making changes and improving designs, much like their original creator. Anyway, Laree, you will find the suit will respond to your needs – absorbing impacts, blocking cuts, burns, etc. Essentially, liquid armor. In additional, the nanites will make you stronger and quite a bit faster as well…you know…the basics.”
This was basic?
“So do I get some protection for my head, too?”
“Of course, Laree, and this is where you start to live in sin.”
“Huh?”
“Sorry…sin as in ‘synthetic.' You’re getting about as close to my world as is possible for a breather.” Kalaya beamed at me. “All you have to do is think ‘helm’ or ‘cover’ and visualize yourself fully encased and it will automatically happen thanks to the interface and your lovely little friends. Try it!”
I did as she asked and pictured myself wearing an impenetrable glass ball around my head. Instantly, I felt the neckline of my suit crawl up my neck and over my ears, all the way to my hairline. Then a transparent sheet of material seemed to materialize and cover my face but leaving an inch or so of space between it and my nose and forehead. There was a strange buzzing in my ears and I felt like the corneas of my eyes were on fire. Blinking away tears a few times calmed the pain, and suddenly it was gone and I felt quite comfortable.
Displays began transmitting from somewhere onto the glass-like surface in front of me. Most of them were in the Quetanae twisty script, but then that blurred and Terran standard took their place. I still couldn’t make heads or tails of the information, but I could read it.
Engrossed in watching the displays flash by, I surprised when two cold and slimy pseudopods slid into my ear canals, causing me to yelp.
“It’s an odd feeling for you, I know,” Kalaya whispered. “But stay calm and let your suit do its thing. It is learning about you as you are learning about it.” I would have expected her voice to sound muffled or garbled through the now sealed suit, but it was like hearing her through a high-performance sound system piped directly into my brain.
“Here’s an image you might find more interesting,” my friend purred. There was a flash of light and a half-undressed male model was projected in front of my eyes. Tanned skin, a dazzling smile, and a six-pack that was more like a case…hmmm. “Oops, sorry, that’s one of mine!” Kalaya chuckled.
“Hey…no fair!” I whined. The model’s flirty grin faded away and was replaced by a map whose orientation changed when I moved my head. It also showed me the layout of the area I was in and even showed my friends in a pleasing blue outline. “This is cool. Is this what the gamers call an HUD?”
“Yes, a rudimentary heads-up display. It doesn’t hold a candle to what Kodo’s can do, of course, but I am hoping it will serve to keep you from getting lost this time.”
“Oh, ha ha…very funny!”
“Oh, it gets better, girlfriend,” she smirked as a service plate opened in the wall and a small tracked drone with a sprayer attachment trundled over and oriented on me.
“What the hell?” Without waiting for my holographic tormentor to comment, it lowered its wand and hosed me down with a thick citron-colored liquid. Self-preservation caused me to try to block it with my hands, but with the suit on, I found I couldn’t feel it at all. Most of it that struck the armor beaded off the shiny parts and soaked into the dense, fluffy fabric that ran up and down my sides.
“Oh, God!” Hannah shouted and proceeded to retch and try to cover her face with the bikini she was still holding. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be enough fabric to do the job justice and she ended up doubling over in olfactory agony. “What is that awful smell?”
Max and Drik had retreated to the farthest point in the room and were trying desperately to pull their shirts up to cover their own noses. Kodo’s helmet appeared and sealed up as if by magic.
Elleen just stood there with a puzzled expression on her face. “What? I kind of like it.”
“How is it that you people are unaffected?” Hannah wheezed, still trying to breathe through the totally inadequate protection of an A-cup swimsuit top.
“I don’t smell a thing inside here,” I said.
“I can turn off my nose,” Kalaya laughed. “As for her,” she said, motioning toward Elleen, “I have no idea.”
Apparently, to spite us all, Elleen took a deep breath and smiled peacefully. “I don’t know what your issue is, it’s a deep, earthy smell, musky, yet sublimely delicate…I like it!”
“You have no idea how disturbing that is,” Kalaya said, shaking her head in wonder. ”No, I mean it, you truly don’t!”
I watched the little droid scurry back to where it came from. “What was that all about anyway? What is that stuff, and why did Kodo get out of having it on him?”
Kalaya smiled innocently. “Just some pest abatement solution. We may be going into some areas of the ship that I haven’t gotten around to cleaning yet and I would hate to have you freak out if you saw a spider or something. It probably won’t be needed at all.”
“Uh-huh…” Why did I feel this curious sense of dread suddenly?
“We need to go,” Kodo announced.
“Right. Kodo, you go load up and Elleen and I will get Laree kitted up.” He walked over to the wardrobe that had held his armor and opening a lower drawer, began filling pouches and snapping equipment into place with practiced precision.
Kalaya led Elleen and me over to the other wardrobe and pointed to a stack of rectangular polymer boxes smaller than a deck of cards. As if she did this every day, my roommate grabbed a handful and moving around behind me started inserting them into small elastic pouches on my armor apparently made for just that purpose. I packed a few more into my sleeves and across the front of my beltline. That accomplished, a drawer slid open revealing two jet black metallic shapes.
I didn’t have to be a weapons expert to know they were sidearms. I pulled one out and tested the feel in my hand. The shape seemed to mold to my fingers, and I had to wonder if this was made from nanites as well. They were about nine inches long and no more than five inches high; instead of a hollow barrel, the front section was curiously flattened. There was writing on the side of the pistol and I held it up to see if I could interpret what it said.
“Careful, Laree, where you point that,” the hologram counseled. “First rule of thumb, treat every firearm as l
oaded and never point it at anything you don’t intend to shoot. These two may not look impressive, but they are particularly nasty little babies.”
By now, Max had overcome his aversion to my odor and crept forward to look over my shoulder. “What are they?”
“They are a set of null recoil automatic pistols.”
“Railguns?”
“Not in my ship,” Kalaya huffed. “Wall putty ruins my nails, and I never seem to be able to match the new paint correctly. No, they are microprojectile weapons utilizing needle-like crystals formed from another of those elements you don’t know about yet.”
“Figures,” my brother said dejectedly and went back to stand next to Drik. Still working behind me, Elleen reached around and retrieved the other pistol, slammed two of the rectangular boxes into the base of it, and slid it gingerly into one of my holsters. She performed the same action with the one I was holding, then leaned forward, patted me on the back and whispered, “Safeties are on, don’t forget to disengage before firing.”
I looked at Kalaya askance. “Why are you even giving me these? I don’t know how to use them.”
“You may not but I’m betting your enhanced nanites and, by extension, the suit will know how to use them very well. “ She nodded, but I could see her eyes were already drawn to Kodo.
He seemed to be fully laden with gear, except for one last item. His right hand was hovering shakily over a large, black weapon locked onto one side of the wardrobe. His left was clenched into a fist so tight that I could hear his armor creak in protest. Recalling the story of his childhood and the trauma involved, I knew this couldn’t be easy for him. Finally, he just shook his head and grabbed it roughly. In a few seconds, he had secured the sling to specially engineered points on the armor and turned to face us, patrol ready. I glanced at the weapon and other than its size, it seemed similar to weapons I had seen our own military carry from time to time. But Kodo’s seemed to have smoother lines and a more organic look. The black paint matched his armor exactly.
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