LV48

by Matt Doyle

“Cover you in synthetic slobber,” she replies and leaps up into a standing position. Before I can defend myself, Ink opens her admittedly intimidating jaws and starts running her tongue all over my face. Lori’s right. Synthetic slobber is gross.

  I try to wrestle Ink off me, and we both tumble to the floor, with Ink on her back and me on top. I reach down and give her exposed belly a rub. “Cheeky kitty.”

  Ink reaches out and grabs my hand between her paws. When Lori speaks again, her voice has a mischievous edge to it. “I’m glad you don’t think I’m a potential murderer anymore, but this does mean you did think I was one at one point.”

  “Subconsciously,” I say, though I know the defensive tone in the word isn’t enough to excuse the fact that she’s right.

  “Still. I do think that warrants a little punishment.”

  I don’t even try to stop the smile rising to my lips. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Well, since you’re so comfortable with Tech Shifting now, I say we test it a little. Why don’t you go and get some of the toys from the kitchen, and we’ll see if you can stay comfortable long enough to tire me out. Maybe then I could be convinced to get changed and go for an early night.”

  The nod I give in response is embarrassingly overenthusiastic, and certainly not helped by my apparently newfound ability to move towards the kitchen at light speed. Even so, I accept my fate and quickly start gathering a few of Ink’s toys. I make a point of grabbing the hand-sized rubber mouse toy I’ve affectionately dubbed Mr. Squeak-On-A-Stick. That was the first of Ink’s toys I ever saw, so it seems right that it should be the first I use.

  I head back into the living room, but only make it three steps before Ink leaps out of some shadowy corner somewhere and knocks the toys out of my hand before darting back to the other end of the room and hiding—badly—behind the side of the couch.

  I’m still not great at getting into my handler headspace, at least not as quickly as Lori gets into Ink’s, but I’m getting there. Being able to be her panther alter-ego is important to Lori, for a number of reasons, and that in turn makes it important to me. The fact is, seeing how happy it makes her is part of what makes it all so much fun for me, and that really is something I never expected. When I saw my first Tech Shifter meet back when I was working the Eddie Redwood case, it was actually all pretty overwhelming. Now, though, it’s become a normal part of my life. Almost. Tonight’s revelations certainly help anyway.

  I pick up Mr. Squeak-On-A-Stick and don’t even try to stop the smile creeping onto my lips. “Here kitty, kitty, kitty.”

  Lieutenant Devereaux’s initial report on the LV Tech

  To: Hoover, Andrew

  From: Devereaux, William

  Subject: Initial notes re: Light Vampire gear

  Captain,

  I’ve completed my initial review of the LV gear that we recovered. As requested, I’m sending you my preliminary notes here. The full report will follow, but these are the key points if you want to roll the info out to the rest of the force.

  The Boots and Suit

  In terms of the boots, they’re pretty much what we thought; simple magnetised soles with a connector that hooks into the main suit. There’s nothing of note there other than the custom connection system, though with no magnetised sections on the gloves, they’d take some real muscle power to hang on the wall with them like Cassie described. In much the same way, there’s nothing really to note with the suit other than the built-in piping and connection system. It’s simple and doesn’t offer anything to the wearer.

  The Helmet and Gloves

  This is where things get a little interesting. I’ve embedded some diagrams to illustrate the key points.

  The mask visor (A) is built from a reinforced glass. I’ve run some basic tests on it, and it’s safe to say that it’s likely bulletproof. I didn’t want to outright test the assumption without your approval, so it’s not technically confirmed, but I can’t see a reason it wouldn’t be given how ready they were for conflict. It’s not just black tinted, it’s completely blacked out. You can’t see in or out of it. I’ll go into more detail of what that means later.

  The lighting sections (B) look a little less fang-like without the audio and visual effects in play, but you can see from the shaping that it was all part of the illusion. Our working theory about each “fang” being a different type of Dazzler was correct.

  The mask has two ear protrusions (C), one on each side. Testing confirmed that one acted as a receiver, both for the electric signals of the tracers, and for audio communication (likely with any other LV’s in the area), via the use of a microphone housed just under the inside of the visor. The other pumped out the infrasound.

  The main shell (D) is not the same material as the visor but is still hard wearing. It’s one of the more recent derivatives of poly(methyl methacrylate), but we’re not sure which one yet. Regardless, it’s fairly lightweight, but still likely to protect the wearer from most damage.

  The top of the visor and the main shell are linked with a slightly raised panel (E). This turned out to be a combined camera and scanner. It forms a big part of the way the system works.

  Like I said, the visor is entirely blacked out. On top of that, the whole mask is soundproofed, meaning no sounds in or out other than through the ear receiver. My guess is this prevents the wearer from being affected by the audio and visual effects the mask brings on.

  The inside of the visor acts as a screen, which projects a simplified scan of the area directly in front of it. It doesn’t attempt to recreate anything more than simple shapes, likely so as to keep costs and weight down in terms of the tech it uses, but it certainly gives you enough to move around relatively safely. The exception to the outline style display is when the camera/scanner is aimed at a person. They come up as a solid, glowing blob with a heart rate box next to them. Given Doctor Sanderson’s background, the scanner is mostly likely modelled on of the distance heart and pulse monitors they have in most hospitals. They use them on patients who are potentially contagious with deadly diseases or high-risk contaminations, I think.

  The shot above was of Dave Kasper in forensics. It’s pretty hard to get a decent shot of the display, so I’ve only attached the one, but when you face multiple people, each one is given a heart rate. Despite being fairly low-power, the system does a remarkable job of accuracy. I didn’t try it with anything living other than humans, but I expect it would do much the same with animals.

  The top bar contains four boxes. These are unmarked controls, meaning users would need to memorise their function. From left to right, they control the left fang, the right fang, the audio, and the boots.

  The system works in tandem with the gloves. The “claws” (A) act as styluses that interact with a touchpad material on the palm (D). This allows the user to tap and swipe the boxes on the visor display. The controls work as follows:

  Left and Right fang: tap to activate or deactivate. The pattern alters automatically.

  Audio: tap to activate or deactivate, swipe left and right to alter frequency.

  Boots: tap to activate or deactivate, swipe left or right to change to change poles, hold to increase strength. Without a version of the double jump boots to test, I can only guess how the system works, but the most logical would be to swipe left or right to set off the propulsion system in the corresponding boot.

  Both gloves have these “claws” and touchpad sections, and both also have the vial housing (B) and tracer housing (C). Obviously, this is to allow for both left and right-handed users. The way it activates is for the wearer to press the index finger on the loaded glove to the flesh of their victim, then press all four fingers to the touchpad on the other hand. It automatically drains the blood via the piping leading to the vial housing, then inserts the tracer once a certain amount has been taken.

  You can’t see it in the diagram, but the open edge of the gloves contains a couple of small connectors. These lock into the suit at the hand holes. I wouldn’
t be surprised if they worked wirelessly as a backup.

  That’s pretty much it. Like I said, I’ll get my full report to you soon. That’ll contain the full details of the testing and a few other diagrams and photos.

  W. Devereaux

  About the Author

  Matt Doyle is a speculative fiction author from the UK and identifies as pansexual and genderfluid. Matt has spent a great deal of time chasing dreams, a habit which has led to success in a great number of fields. To date, this has included spending ten years as a professional wrestler, completing a range of cosplay projects, and publishing multiple works of fiction.

  These days, Matt can be found working on multiple novels and stories, blogging about pop culture, and plotting and planning far too many projects.

  Email: mattdoylemedia@hotmail.com

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/MattDoyleMedia

  Twitter: @mattdoylemedia

  Website: www.mattdoylemedia.com

  Other books by this author

  Addict

  The Fox, the Dog, and the King

  Also Available from NineStar Press

  Connect with NineStar Press

  Website: NineStarPress.com

  Facebook: NineStarPress

  Facebook Reader Group: NineStarNiche

  Twitter: @ninestarpress

  Tumblr: NineStarPress