Time Jump (Halcyon Gate Book 1)

by J. M. Preiss

  Jacob casually rapped his knuckles on Lisa's chest.

  "I beg your pardon!" she exclaimed.

  "Sorry," Jacob said sheepishly. "Take that stuff off. Ballistic weave armor is not going to protect you. It's too primitive by comparison, and even if they do have kinetic weapons, they will probably be railguns. Armor doesn't work against those."

  "I'm not even going to ask," Lisa said as she undid the armor.

  Jacob looked around at other cabinets, particularly looking for locked ones. He found one.

  "What's in here?" he asked.

  "Don't know," Lisa said. "That cabinet is off-limits."

  "Open it," Jacob stated.

  "But," Lisa began.

  "No buts," Jacob cut her off. "Open it. It could be important and useful."

  She looked over at the escort who shrugged. "The boss said to give them all access for this mission."

  Lisa mumbled under her breath as she unlocked the cabinet and stepped back as she opened the doors.

  Inside, there were stacks of what looked like pieces of metal. Taking one of them in his hand, Jacob tapped it against the metal cabinet. It gave a dull sound.

  "I thought those were metal," Lisa said.

  "Nope," Mason said as he grabbed it from Jacob. He slapped it abruptly onto Lisa.

  There was a sharp hiss, and she jumped back quickly. "What do you think you're doing!"

  She looked down and saw that the plate was stuck to her. "What is this?"

  Jacob picked up another piece. "This is armor," he said.

  "How?"

  "It is a special reflective and reactive armor," Jacob explain as he walked over to her. "It can be made to adhere to any surface, so you can armor virtually anything. Each panel can only take a single hit, and it burns like hell. It will save your life though."

  Lisa pulled at the panel, but it wouldn't budge.

  "You have to put pressure in the center and peel it off," said Mason.

  She did as he said and heard it detach itself. She lifted it up and looked at it. "Amazing."

  "It is, and it does work," Jacob said as he placed a plate below her neck. "Always start at the center of your chest. Work out from there. Makes it stronger. Keep them side to side and they will partially form together and become stronger. There is no reason to stagger them, but I've known some people that do because they liked how it looked."

  Mason took off the clothes that he borrowed from the shop and started attaching panels to the suit he was wearing.

  "The beauty of these things," Mason said as he was attaching them, "is that they can form to your body too. As long as you place them correctly over joints, they minimally interfere with your movement."

  "I suggest you change into one of these suits," said Jacob. "The armor is easier to attach to something form-fitting."

  Lisa nodded and left the room.

  Mason turned at looked at Jacob. "So Lisa, eh?"

  Jacob shook his head. "Yeah, that was a bit strange."

  "Something finally sneak past that solid exterior of yours?"

  "I will admit that it caught me off guard, but no, it didn't get past it," Jacob said as he smiled.

  Hector was leaning against one of the cabinets. "What do I do?"

  Mason rolled his eyes. "Go get into one of these suits yourself, and hurry it up, will you?"

  Hector sighed as he followed the escort. He mumbled something about not wanting to take off his favorite shirt.

  "I wonder where he got that shirt," Jacob said.

  "You and me both," replied Mason.

  Looking back in the locker, Jacob found a thick - about the thickness of his wrist - circular ring that was hinged at one end. "We've got helmets," he said.

  Mason looked up from applying the plating. "Good. Hopefully we won't actually have a need for them."

  Jacob grunted and clasped the ring around his neck. He then started attaching plates around the perimeter of it. Once he had finished the perimeter and confirmed that it was sealed securely against the plates, he depressed a button. A set of plates rose out of the ring and morphed to surround his head. A faceplate slid down over his eyes and completely sealed off the helmet. He mumbled a few inaudible things. Pushing the button again, it undid itself and folded back into the ring.

  "It works. HUD looks good to," he said.

  "Good. Hopefully we can also find some radios," said Mason.

  Jacob nodded and went back to armoring himself.

  By the time Lisa and Hector had returned, the pulse cannon had finished the refining process successfully. Jacob was running it through another diagnostic and replacing the power cell when they entered the room.

  "We've got all of the equipment for the armor," he said when they walked up. "Start applying it."

  Lisa and Hector nodded and did as they were told.

  "Got any radios by chance?" Mason asked.

  "Cabinet by the door," Lisa said as she applied another piece of armor.

  Mason looked in the cabinet and saw an assortment of equipment. What caught his eye the most was a stack of mapping units.

  "We're taking these, too," he said as he held a pair up.

  "Nice find," Jacob said.

  Mason grabbed enough radios and mapping units for everybody.

  "Hook this on your belt and it will interface with the armor plates and the helmet," Mason explained. "Then it is a simple matter to talk to the person next to you without anybody else overhearing your conversation."

  Lisa nodded. "Impressive technology." She finished applying the armor plates. "What now?"

  "Take one of those rings and attach it at your neckline. It will connect and form a seal. You then depress the button on the right side to deploy the helmet." Mason demonstrated.

  "While it seals up nicely, since we don't have life support units, the helmet will not seal all the way, but it will rather filter the exterior air," Mason finished.

  "We shouldn't be needing those anyways," Jacob added. "Another important point is that the helmets have a HUD, heads up display, that will give information about your suit and vitals, status of your weaponry, interface with your electronics on your belt, and give detailed information about the environment you are in."

  "How does it do all this?" Lisa asked. "That's insane for the size of it."

  Jacob and Mason both shrugged.

  "We didn't design it," Mason said.

  "But we certainly know how to use it," Jacob finished.

  Hooking everything on his belt and securing them in place, Jacob activated his helmet and smiled as it closed up.

  It was good to be suited up again. Damn good.

  Chapter XXIX

  "All these people staring is starting to freak me out a bit," Mason said as they walked through the underground complex.

  "They've never seen anyone properly armored before. I'm not surprised that they are staring," Jacob said absentmindedly.

  Jacob kept fiddling with his new mapping device to assure to himself again that it was actually working properly. Since they were underground, he was unable to ping any satellites, but he could see that both inertial mapping and magnetic bearing were functioning correctly. Securing it back on his belt, he looked up just as they entered the garage.

  "Reaching the facility would take too long on foot, so we are going to use one of the sleds," Lisa explained. "Even then, it will be about a fifteen-minute trip outside of Hedington."

  "They didn't want the facility close to the settlement. That is either a good sign or a very bad one," Mason mused.

  "What would the location have to do with if it's good or bad?" asked Hector.

  "Pretty simple," Jacob answered. "The further away something is put from people, the more dangerous it usually is. You put stuff you don't want anyone stumbling onto far away, and the fact that we know it has defenses means that they are probably pretty nasty."

  Mason patted the pulse cannon hanging off of his shoulder. "Nothing as nasty as this bad boy."

  Jacob roll
ed his eyes. "Let's hope."

  They hopped onto what Lisa called the sled.

  As they loaded onto the sled, the man named Julian walked up to them.

  "You've convinced Victor that you are trustworthy, but you still have yet to convince me fully." He chewed on a thick, hand-rolled cigarette of some kind. "That equipment you are carrying is very valuable. You don't come back, and I will be very displeased."

  "We'll come back," Jacob assured him.

  Julian walked away muttering to himself about how they were suicidal idiots.

  "Charming fellow," Mason said.

  "No joke. We all set to go?" Jacob looked at each one.

  They resembled knights in shining armor if shining armor had been as advanced as the plating they were wearing.

  A heavy weapons expert, two riflemen, and a section leader. Just like old times, Jacob thought as he told the driver to head on out.

  "Lisa, Hector, go ahead and seal up your helmets," Jacob recommended. "Try and get used to the virtual environment they provide. It can be a bit disconcerting at first to have all of that information available. I'll walk you through how to use it on the way there."

  Lisa and Hector followed the advice and raised their helmets. People stared at the four armor-clad individuals as the sled sped by.

  "On the perimeter of your screen, you will notice all of the information. From your mapping device, you will have a magnetic bearing indicator in the top middle. The upper right will have a topographical map if available, but if you don't have a connection to the satellite network, the inertial mapping function will kick in to show you the path you have taken. The lower right has weapon status information. Green is good, yellow is hot, and red is overheated. Always be mindful of how much heat your weapon is generating."

  They reached the outside of town, and the driver opened up the throttle, but the electric sled barely made any noise beyond the slightly audible whine of the motors.

  "The lower left has the indicator for suit integrity, armor status, and vital signs. The reason for the vital sign indication is to know if you are going into shock or not, but since you do not know what shock looks like as far as numbers go, don't worry about it. The upper left shows environment information such as temperature, atmospheric conditions, oxygen availability, and toxicity of the atmosphere." Jacob scratched his face.

  "If you wish to rearrange the HUD, you can do so by looking at the readout you want to move, close your eyes for a count of three, and then opening and looking where you want the readout to go. It will then switch position or take up the place that you look at. So as not to interfere with your visual field, the readouts will never be pinned to the center of the screen. If you instead want to take a look at a readout on the center of your screen, look at the readout and blink twice. This will enlarge it. Blink twice again in rapid succession, and it will go back to where it was. Any questions?"

  Hector shook his head.

  "I have one," Lisa spoke up as she deactivated her helmet. "Radio operation?"

  "Ah, yes. I knew I was leaving something out," Jacob said. "Radio operation will be in the middle left side of your HUD. To set up the radio, look at the readout and blink twice. This will mute the output and input and allow you to choose what channels to monitor and speak on. To monitor a channel, say monitor and the channel number. You will then only listen in on the channel. To broadcast on a channel, say broadcast and the channel number. For our purposes, we'll use channel one, the default channel. No need to set it up or anything. Using the radio is then as simple as speaking, and we will hear it. Along with the channels you are broadcasting and monitoring being displayed, the readout will also show signal strength for your radio. It allows you to know when there is something interfering with the signal."

  Jacob looked at Mason. "Anything else?"

  "Nope," he replied. "That should cover it. Know any special forces secrets we can use?" He grinned.

  "Sure. Don't get shot."

  Mason and Jacob laughed while Hector and Lisa stared at them awkwardly.

  "Sorry, Reactionary Force joke," Mason said.

  "Reactionary Force?" Hector asked.

  "Yeah," said Jacob. "That's what we call our military when we're from. Mason was a grunt-"

  Mason grunted.

  "-and I was, well am, a member of special forces," finished Jacob.

  "What's a grunt, and what is special forces?" Lisa had a confused look on her face. "I thought you said that you were Reactionary Force."

  "Well, we are," Jacob explained, waving his hand in a matter of fact gesture. "Mason was a normal member though. I, on the other hand, signed up for something more serious."

  "And yet I was the one that bought two pieces of the farm," Mason mumbled.

  "What does purchasing a farm have to do with being in the Reactionary Force? Do you retire to one when you are done in it?" Lisa was even more confused.

  "Uh. Something like that." Mason shook his head.

  Jacob was having a hard time resisting laughing.

  "Anyways, I signed up to something a lot more serious and dangerous. Lisa never agreed with my choice." Jacob got a distant look on his face.

  Jacob thought of how he would miss his wife if not for the conditioning. Would he ever see her again?

  "Lisa? I never knew you until yesterday," Lisa said.

  "Huh?" Jacob snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh, sorry. My wife back home is named Lisa."

  "That's," Lisa trailed off. "Ok, that is just a little awkward."

  "Tell me about it," Mason said before Jacob could speak up. "Don't worry though, special forces over there doesn't let any distraction get in his way, not even emotions for his wife."

  "You don't have emotions?" Hector asked with a shocked look on his face.

  Jacob glared at Mason. "That's an over-simplification if I've ever heard one." He sighed.

  "No, I have emotions," Jacob explained. "I just don't respond to them like everybody else. I was psychologically conditioned to control and suppress them."

  "So you don't have emotions," Lisa said.

  Jacob screwed up his mouth. "If that helps you understand it, sure. I don't have emotions."

  Lisa nodded to herself. "That's just weird."

  Hector agreed with her.

  Mason smiled. "Told you people would have a problem with you back during mission training."

  Jacob rolled his eyes and shook his head. He activated his helmet and set about trying to access the satellite network.

  "Aw, I think I hurt his feelings," Mason said in a mocking voice.

  Jacob backhanded Mason across the chest.

  Mason laughed. "Sure did!"

  Mason, Hector, and Lisa kept talking as the topic switched to random stuff about the time Mason and Jacob were from.

  Jacob frowned as he pinged the satellite network.

  Chapter XXX

  "The satellite network has been accessed," a booming voice said into a dark room.

  "It would appear that they are still alive," said a smooth voice. "Impressive."

  "It could be trouble," said a high-pitched voice. "They are heading for the Respite facility."

  A man walked into a circle of light that appeared. His form was hidden by a black cloak. The hood was up.

  "Send a reaction force to the facility. Do not let them leave there alive," he said.

  "The odds of their survival is negligible," the booming voice said. "Calculating it at zero point two percent."

  "Analysis confirms unlikely success of their excursion," said the smooth voice.

  "Concurred," the high pitched one said.

  "I don't care," the cloaked man said. "I have a feeling when it comes to sensing trouble, and they are trouble. Do it anyways. Leave nothing to chance. Burn them to cinders."

  "Confirmed."

  "Confirmed."

  "Confirmed."

  "Activating reaction force," the booming voice said.

  Chapter XXXI

  It took a little over fifte
en minutes for them to make it to the facility. They stopped behind a rise and got off of the sled. Taking up a position at the top of the rise, Jacob raised the visual enhancer to his eyes and scouted it out.

  There was a substantial doorway built into the next hill. A fence ran around the perimeter and off over the hill. There were two emplacements with what looked like pulse cannons at each corner of the fence that could be seen. A paved road that had fallen into disrepair led from the gate of the fence to the doorway. There wasn't a guardhouse, but there was a post with what looked like a camera installation on it. Jacob slid back down off the rise.

  "Not too heavily fortified, but there are two gun emplacements. Pulse cannons by the look of it," Jacob said.

  Mason cursed. "Those could be a problem. The lighter stuff we could take. Taking a pulse cannon, I'm not so sure about."

  "Piece of cake," Jacob said as he activated his helmet.

  The rest of the group followed suit.

  "Mic check," Mason said.

  "Check."

  "Check."

  "Uh, check," Hector stuttered.

  "So what's the plan, Lieutenant?" Mason asked.

  "They should have a pretty slow rate of traverse by comparison to the lighter stuff, so we should be able to spoof them."

  "You're just a Lieutenant?" Lisa asked.

  "Yeah. What are you?" Jacob shot back.

  "Captain."

  "Ha," Mason let escape. "She's higher ranked than you."

  "Yeah, yeah," said Jacob. "Alright, I'll draw their fire. Mason, set up on the far side down there," he pointed at a point down the rise. "When I signal, pop the top."

  "Sounds good." Mason turned his back to Jacob. "Power me up."

  Flipping a switch and depressing a button, Jacob activated the power pack. There was a whine and a loud pop, and then all of the status indicators went green.

  "Powered up," said Jacob.

  "Confirmed," Mason responded.

  "Hector, Lisa," Jacob spoke and turned to them. "Take up position here and sit tight. Lisa, when the guns start to track towards Mason, fire one shot and get down."

  "Check," Lisa said.

  Hector just nodded.

  Jacob crouched and ran along the bottom of the rise to his position. Mason followed suit and headed the other direction.