by Viola Grace
* * * *
Alyla got the language flashes mixed in with the educational vids and started uploading seventeen Nyal languages, including common.
Her father crept into her office. “She is vocally predatory.”
Alyla smiled. “Yes, but she won’t make a move on anyone. It is a tactic that she uses to discomfort men. It worked. I have never seen you scurry away from a naked woman in a tank before.”
He muttered, “Dearest daughter, I did not scurry. I retreated.”
Alyla grinned. “Her file is fascinating. She has worked in predominantly traditionally masculine fields and has risen to management in every one of them. She goes through all of the jobs, so she understands them and manages her workers with thoughtful skill.”
“She won’t be able to do that with the guardians.”
“No, but she might be able to watch some of their vids and do some training. Being in shape is part of her contract, so she can get a lighter version of the training regimen when she lands.”
Her father nodded. “We can communicate with the administrator on Caloff. Her home is being designed right now.”
“I am already making notes based on her absorption rate of the new languages.” Alyla smiled. “She’s a quick study. She might be better suited to Relita.”
“Do you have any of the control room vids?”
“A bunch. That was a horrific event. So many dead.” Alyla frowned. “Did she ever ask about that?”
Imbolt shook his head. “I don’t think she had to. She knew.”
Alyla nodded. “That would fit with her history. She is known for knowing where her team is at any given moment.”
“Are you repairing her hearing?”
“Yes. She was nearly deaf. We are walking that back and using her favourite image of herself from her first job to accelerate the rebuilding of her nose and ears.”
“Sensible.” Imbolt smiled. “Does she have any idea that it was your mother who hauled her out of the wreckage?”
“No. I think we will leave that for a while. She is here for a few days before the others are even collected, so it is fine. She will get the information if she wants it. I am going to show her how to open locked files from a distance.”
“You will show her that before you show her the incident that landed her here?”
“Yeah. That way, she can seek out the information in her own time, when she is ready.”
Her father gave her a one-armed hug. “You are becoming as clever as your mother.”
“Devious. You mean devious.” Alyla smiled and hugged him back. “But thank you for the compliment.”
* * * *
Maya spent the next few days floating in the tank, and when her left leg jerked, she looked down. The burns were nearly gone. When her left arm jerked, she frowned.
Alyla skidded into the room and checked a readout. “Ah. Your nerves are being rewired. You are going to be twitching and jerking for a few hours. Consider it aerobics. Or spasm Pilates.”
Maya would have snorted, but her limbs and the newly grown tissue started to come alive. It was a very distracting way to spend the day, so she focused on her education, and the flashes of language that were slid into the documentaries in front of her.
Once she had seen the pattern, she had gotten the hang of it.
The images of the guardians had been stirring at first, but after the first dozen clips that she drooled at, she started taking in the nuances of the energy that they wielded and how they controlled it. She watched the interviews, the recruitment days, and charity events. The guardians weren’t people to the community; they were utilities in nice packages.
Alyla grinned. “Enjoying the education process?”
Maya tried something that she had just worked out. “It has its moments, but is there something more I could be learning since I don’t have to worry about maintaining my own body?”
The sound came out of the unit in Alyla’s hand, and she jumped. “Oh, so you have figured that out.”
“There is nothing else to do. I figured that if my frequency could become text, it could also become audio. I am going to have to fine-tune the voice. It sounds a little breathy.”
Alyla stared at her tablet and then looked at her with admiration in her expression. “That is excellent, and your voice is just the thing you need. If you can make them want to listen, you can get them to follow orders.”
“Isn’t that skeevy?”
“It is strategic. You are going to be working exclusively with men via remote, after all.”
Maya nodded in the tank, and she asked, “Where am I going to be posted?”
“Relita. You are being housed in the same area as the folk who design armour and weaponry for the guardians.”
“So, in the same building.”
“Yes. It is very secure.”
“Lovely. Will I get to explore at all?”
Alyla blinked. “Oh, right. I suppose you should be able to. It would depend on the political situation in the region at the time.” She paused and then smiled. “Nothing happens on Relita. It is a hub where people shop and others vacation. There are three guardians stationed there at any given time, and they use it as a recreation spot in between assignments. You probably won’t run into them if you are out, but if you do, they won’t know who you are. You are being given a guardian designation. Command Control. That his how they will speak to you, refer to you, and communicate with you. They are being encouraged to believe you are a new style of AI.”
Maya nodded, and she spoke through the box. “Got it. Command Control, over and out... for now.”
Alyla grinned and gave her a thumbs-up.
A few days later, Maya’s reset began, and the other tanks were filled. She was loaded onto a new vehicle, and unlike the other women, she was conscious. Her brain was wide awake, and she watched with care as they were settled in medical a safe distance apart. When she saw the loose clasp, she found the nearest speaker and spoke in Tival. “Excuse me, there is a loose clip on tank three. Can you tighten it up? My hands are full.” She pressed her palms to the inside of the tank.
The men paused, checked the clasp, and gave her a nod and a short bow.
Maya smiled and looked at the speaker on the wall. It seemed that she could worm her way into any usable broadcast device. Oh, this was going to be fun.
Chapter Three
To Maya’s surprise, she had finished her reset in the first five days of travel. She was pulled out of the tank, her lungs were cleared, and she was wrapped in a blanket and run through scans.
“You are in remarkably good health, but you require more muscle mass to keep you in your contract specs.” One of the medics smiled. “We are going to teach you how to work out .”
She rolled her eyes and finally got to use her voice. “Really?”
“Really. The equipment is different than what you are used to.”
She started wheezing and laughed until her eyes teared, and she proved that her ducts were working after her initial injury. “Oh. Don’t ever say that to a woman who has been studying alien anatomy.”
One of the men pulled up what was being broadcast in her tube, and he blushed. “Good point. The mechanics of the machines we workout with require a learning curve.”
Maya nodded and got to her feet. “Better. Now, where can I de-slime myself and get dressed?”
A few minutes later, she was clean and sealing the closure on her suit. It felt weird to be in something so formfitting, but she was currently scrawny as hell—no wonder she would have to work out.
She left the lav, and a medic was waiting to show her to the exercise room where she was supposed to spend any free minute that she had. If she wasn’t learning, she was supposed to be working out. When they got closer, she would be connected to the teams and start working before she even set foot on Relita.
“Let’s start with the leg presses.” The medic set her up and guided her thr
ough the exercises. There were going to be supplements administered to increase the speed of the muscle growth, and she would have to taper them off and continue to work out for maintenance on Relita. Great. Her first time in space, and she was going to be fighting ‘roid rage.
It was going to be a long few weeks.
Maya finished her press set and spoke to the elements on Caloff. “Get into the duct work and blow it out. The vents are full of particulates that you can use as a distraction.”
She waited and watched through internal systems. The team captain gave directions, and they charged into the hostage situation and rescued a touring diplomat and the local elected officials.
She spoke in their ears. “Command Control, out.”
She stretched and finished her post-workout cooldown. The other two worlds that they had her monitoring were quiet aside from some standard daily events, accidents, and storm damage. There was nothing that required a coordinating eye.
She got up, stretched, and took a look at her body in the mirror. They had reset her to the ideal shape that her genes would allow, and now, she had to finish the job. She was looking good. There was muscle tone, her abdomen had the shadow of muscles on it, and she could deadlift her own bodyweight. It was a really solid start.
Imbolt came in, and he nodded. “Are you ready for your drop?”
“I am. Thanks for the pointers on distance communication.”
He inclined his head. “It was no trouble. I communicate with Minerva all the time.”
She grinned. “How long until the drop?”
“You have ten minutes. We will be lowering you into the atmosphere before your pod is released. From there, you have to find your own way.”
“Got it. I have been in communication with the research centre. They will be watching for me. Please, tell me that you got clearance.”
He grinned. “That is your job.”
She cursed and started running for her quarters, peeling open her workout suit as she ran, much to the astonishment of the crewmen that she passed. She was naked by the time she entered her quarters and going through the authorization protocols for a dead drop of a member of the guardian support team.
She filled out the documents, got the authorizations, and by the time she was in her armoured suit with her helmet under her arm, she was good to go.
She grabbed her bag filled with similar suits, some casual and work gear, and headed for the shuttle bay. She hugged some of the team that was there to see her off and climbed into the pod with her helmet on and her bag on her back. She straddled the main support and held the controls as the door to the pod closed, and the shuttle’s engines hummed.
When the crew was clear, they slid out of the warship, and the shuttle was headed to Relita.
She listened for the contact, and when it happened, she answered it with her responses on the open com.
“Relita Station. State your access code.”
“Twelve, Deck. Guardian support ninety-six. Command Control.”
“Authorization accepted, Command Control. Are you prepared to drop?”
“Drop authorization confirmed. Shuttle will depart the atmosphere in thirty minutes.”
“Confirmed, Command Control. Requesting notification of drop.”
“Confirmation will be issued when I am secure.”
“Acknowledged. Welcome to Relita.”
She smiled and watched as they approached the drop site. She contacted the facility, got her fingers on the grips, and started the power systems for her ride.
The drop warning scrolled across her screen, and she held onto the controls as the drop happened; her pod slid out of the shuttle, and the moment it was free, she fired up the energy field of the pod, waited until the first bounce, hit the release, and the sides of the pod retracted while she took control of her machine and directed herself toward the research facility.
She hadn’t ridden a motorcycle since she was too young to legally do it, so this was intensely fun. She headed to the spot on the open plain that she had identified as her target location. A portion of the plain elevated, and she powered down as it swallowed her. She slammed on the brakes before she struck the back wall, and the elevator descended into Relita. She was about as far away from the holiday spots as she could be.
She used the scramblers offered by the facility and contacted Relita Station. She entered her codes and said, “Command Control, confirming occupation on Relita. Thank you for your hospitality.”
“Relita Station confirming. Welcome home.”
She cut the com before they could track her and waited until she got to the lowest level.
The team was there to decontaminate her and do her entry scans, and then, a team on Relita needed to respond to a tidal wave, and she was on duty while she went through the base for a tour. It was quite the first day.
Maya was working out in the gym when two of the other team members came in and called out to her. She paused mid-sit up and waved. “Good morning.”
Her co-workers came over and grinned. Salya asked, “Why do you work out so hard?”
“It is in my contract.” She sighed and extended her legs, shaking out the stiffened muscles. “I have to keep my muscle mass able to lift my own weight. It is a weird qualification, but I was recovering from an injury that had me immobile when I was recruited. I am guessing that this is their way of telling me that a relapse is not an option.”
Morker looked at her. “You do have amazing muscle development. Can I study you? We have some orders for improvements to guardian armour, and you fit quite a few of the female figures.”
Salya smiled. “Looking at her figure? She’s been here two weeks.”
“Exactly, plenty of time. Maya, do you have any combat training?”
“Um. No. Just a bit of boxing.”
“Huh, are you willing to work with some of the combat stuff, maybe weapons training? We only get to show the guardians when they come for customization.”
“So, you want me to product test the projects?”
He grinned. “Some of them. Yes. We have a whole bunch of stuff that we can’t properly test, but your physique seems to be designed for some of the projects.”
Salya looked at her and back at her co-worker. “Like the batons?”
“Precisely.”
“Batons?” Maya was wary.
“Come by after you finish your shift for the day, Maya. We will show you some of what we are talking about.” Salya smiled.
Maya was directing her team to a group hiding on the far side of a building. “Sounds interesting. Send me a message if I am not there in a timely manner. Maybe I could come by on a break.”
Salya grinned. “Excellent. We have a few things that we want to check for weight, so we will generate a few defensive bits of armour that you can check for wearability.”
“So, you want me to check stuff for comfort?”
“Sure. See if you can tumble in it and stuff.”
“I don’t tumble.”
Morker finished setting up his weight machine. “Are you willing to learn?”
“You want me to do flips?”
“Just a little to see if the designs fit or not. If you are willing, we have a trainer on site. He used to be a performing acrobat, and he helps out with the guardian body styles when needed. He’s very muscular.”
Salya sighed and smiled. “And flexible. Ytal is fun.” She waggled her brows.
“Fine, first, I will play dress-up, and then, we can work on adding acrobatics to my exercise roster.” Maya got to her feet and stretched. Both of her co-workers watched.
She showered, changed, and headed to her workspace. She was settled in a cradle, and she checked on her guys before running through the safety checks around the bases and projected weather issues on their worlds. Going through that much information shouldn’t have been possible, but as long as she was supported, she could go through her daily checks in twenty minutes
.
After the daily checks, she went through local law enforcement and looked for anything that needed someone bulletproof, laser-proof, or strong enough to bend steel. The elementals could go anywhere, but she had to be careful with the heavy hitters.
She spoke softly in their coms. “Command Control requesting daily check.”
Eight of the eleven answered, and she had to seek out the other three. Two were asleep, and one was having sex. The ease with which she tracked them down was a little scary, but she was getting better at moving through other frequencies.
She went through the rest of her checks, assigned them as needed, and spent her day moving from one near-disaster to another. They were only near disasters because the guardians got there in time.
When they could do it, she considered it a job well done.
Maya finished her time in the office and stretched. There was time to head up to the research level and see what Morker and Salya were working on.
Chapter Four
It never occurred to her to change her suit. She walked into the department, and Salya and four others greeted her with grins. Morker looked at her clothing, and he frowned. “Where did you get that?”
“It was given to me on my inbound transport.”
Morker walked toward her, grabbed her by the wrist, and hauled her into his office. “Why did they authorize you for that suit? It is a custom design.”
“Well, yeah. Most of this stuff is built to fit a single person.”
He blinked and looked at her. “What do you do here, again?”
She frowned. “It’s classified.”
His eyes widened, and he closed his door. “Oh, stars. You are the new guardian. The communicator.”
Maya tilted her head. “I have no idea what you are talking about. I am just here to monitor the coms between the guardian posts. I work for the project, just like everyone here.”
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Fine, but someone is eventually going to remember that suit. I will have to make you another one in my off time with a different pattern.”