by Z D Dean
Axis formally introduced himself as the first son of the elder ancient of the highest tribe in the T.A.R.C.C. His father was charged with running the T.A.R.C.C. and representing the Settlers to the Unity. As the first son Axis would inherit the responsibilities of his father someday.
“Pleasure to meet you. I have to ask, if you are royalty in your species, why were you sent on such a dangerous mission?” Zade asked, curiosity now peaked by Axis’ story.
“This crew’s mission is an extremely prestigious one. My father should have been the representative of our species to the worlds explored by this ship but, could not due to his responsibilities within the Unity. I, as his heir, was selected in his stead.”
Zade spent the rest of the meal introducing himself and explaining some of the finer point about mankind. The arrogance once felt based on his position in the army now tempered by the realization that his new status meant less than nothing when compared to others in the Unity. The two men finished eating and headed to their quarters. Once inside Zade turned on one of his favorite playlists as he showered and prepared for bed. As Zade laid in bed, unable to sleep, he thought about the repercussions of his actions to save Axis.
The next few days were uneventful, as the ship was on a short jump to the next planet of interest. Zade spent the time interacting with the crew and improving the kit he would carry planet side. Learning from the past exploration jaunt, Zade developed a myriad of different weapons and defenses, that he could chose based on the ship’s threat analysis. Interaction with the crew, although not unpleasant, was minimal. The other members of the crew were absorbed in their scientific research and only left their labs to eat and sleep.
Just before night cycle on the third day of the flight, Samix called Zade up to the command deck. Unsure of what to expect, Zade worked to a stopping point on the new SSILF he was designing and readied himself for the icy, passive aggressive bout that he was expecting. As he exited the robotics lab headed for the command deck, Samix’s voice popped into his ear.
“I’ll meet you up there in a second, I’m grabbing a cup of sloop. Want one?”
“Sure. Care to give me a heads up on what this meeting is about?”
“Just a mission brief. We should be hitting orbit any minute now.”
Zade beat Samix to the command deck, so he took a seat at one of the workstations while he waited for her. Looking out the viewing windows Zade could see a white marble slowly growing in size and guessed that it was the planet they would be exploring. Samix walked onto the command deck, handed Zade his mug, and leaned against the workstation he was sitting at. Looking past her Zade could see that the icy planet now took up most of the windows on the command deck. Samix turned and bent over the workstation, back to Zade, where she input the commands to start orbital surveys of the planet. With one of Samix’s finer characteristics at eye level and enticingly close to him, Zade couldn’t figure out what game she was playing. Was she taunting him into shooting his mouth off again, so she could send him out on another suicide mission? Was she toying with him? Was it an ego or dominance thing? Zade wasn’t sure, but what he did know was the last time he was in this situation he reacted and earned himself a nasty backhand and a mission that almost killed him. Trying to separate himself from the situation, Zade tried to gain some separation by pushing back the chair he was sitting in. It was mounted to the workstation, so it didn’t budge. Doing the next best thing, Zade closed his eyes and waited for Samix to stand back up. When he heard movement Zade opened his eyes and saw Samix looking back at him, the slightest hint of a smirk on her face.
She’s toying with me. Trying to get a reaction so she can send me out to die on another stupid mission.
“Alright this is our next target. We need to get data from some ice cores on the planet. You and I will be the landing team.” Samix said pointing to the planet barely able to keep the snicker out her voice.
Awesome, she isn’t even going to let the local wildlife do me in. She’s gonna take me down and either leave me or do it herself.
Zade had been burnt by bad leadership before, granted they were all human, but this reeked of bad. Samix started the brief by explaining that initial surveys put the planet’s surface at around negative three-hundred degrees, making it inhospitable for any life to develop. Usually Zade would dawn an environmental suit and take the core samples himself, but because he didn’t know the technology Samix would have to go down. The environment was too extreme to adapt to even with nanites, so Zade would need to use Fern’s environmental protection suit. The suit was the only one aboard that could protect its user from the harsh conditions on the surface, and Zade was the only one who would fit inside it.
Samix, as a Xi’Ga, could handle the extreme temperature without protection, and could complete the work on her own. However, after recent incidents Samix had made the determination that anyone leaving the ship would have a buddy. The temperatures were too low to use SSILF, as their internal workings would freeze shortly after being exposed to atmosphere, so Zade would be doing the heavy lifting. The ship would land and offload the crew, who would then walk for five kilometers, in any direction, away from the landing site. This was to prevent the landing zone from collapsing due to the weight of the ship combined with the integrity loss from core drilling. After the cores were drilled, Samix would drop a sensor, through the hole, into the ocean below. The sensor would collect data on the lifeforms and makeup of the ocean. Upon completion of testing, Zade would carry the equipment back to the ship.
After explaining the mission, Samix led Zade to the cargo bay where she showed him the environmental protective suit he would be using. Entering the cargo bay, Samix walked to a nine-foot-tall crate that had been stowed in the corner near the ramp. As she opened the crate, Zade could see the towering, yellow and green, protective suit. The suit looked like high-tech armor, capable so withstanding some serious abuse. It was entirely mustard yellow, with a green face shield and green circle on the left chest plate.
“That is beautiful and ugly at the same time. Fern must have had a horrible fashion sense.” Zade quipped.
“Fern didn’t have a choice. Those are the exploration corps colors, green on yellow with a circle emblem. Combat is red on grey with a triangle emblem. Transport is white on blue with a solid white square emblem. Command is red on red with no emblem. Now do you want to see how it works?”
“Absolutely,” Zade said as he walked around the masterpiece in awe.
Samix walked up to the suit, pressed some buttons on the left wrist, and caused the whole upper back and shoulder area to slide open. As the back was sliding apart, splitting right where the spine would be, the whole upper body of the suit leaned forward. After some instruction, Zade climbed onto a nearby crate and stepped into the suit. As both feet firmly planted Zade could feel the inside of the legs expand to fill the gap between his legs and the suit. Samix then instructed Zade to lean forward and place his face in the helmet while sliding his arms into the arms of the suit. Like with the legs, the arms compressed making the suit form fitting. With his arms snugly secured in the suit, Zade straightened his back, placing him in an upright standing position. As he did he could feel the back of the suit and helmet closing and like the arms and legs the torso compressed to make the suit form fitting.
“The suit needs to be calibrated and you need to be familiarized with its functions. Stay here in the cargo bay and work through the functions check, it should take you thirty minutes, which is what the suit requires to calibrate.” Samix said as she was heading back to the command deck.
Zade tried to turn and look at her, but the suit had not engaged movement capabilities yet. Bringing his attention back to the face shield, a basic welcome message and brief description scrolled over the visor. The suit connected directly with the user’s interface and the goal of Argyle Industries, the suits manufacturer, was that the user forgot that they were in a protective suit. The suit was a standard bipedal model that could be used by any sp
ecies that would fit in it. Because of this the suit required thirty minutes in a controlled environment so it could determine the user’s environmental needs. To accomplish this the suit would run a function check for any first time user, during which time a user profile would be created. Any time a user’s interface was identified the suit would skip the functions test.
The test began by ensuring the user that the suit could operate in any known conditions. As the motor skills portion of the test began, a warning displayed saying that the suit was capable of increasing the user’s strength tenfold and that they should take care when trying to complete delicate tasks. After the warning the display prompted Zade to move every joint independently across its full range of motion. This allowed the suit to establish safety stops to prevent the user from hyperextending joints. After Zade finished walking two laps around the cargo bay, the final prompt, the suit began describing the user interface on the visor.
The visor could display anything the user could view through their interface, but the exploration model came standard with a small map in the right corner, with friendly known locations. A small compass with waypoint indicators across the top, and external conditions listed down the left side. Combat models were slightly more armored and displayed ammunition capacity and team member status on the left side in lieu of environmental conditions.
The final phase of the familiarization covered entering and exiting procedures along with any additional features of the suit. Since Zade now had a profile created in the suit, he would never have to manually open or close the suit, users could instruct the suit to open and close through their interface. Unlike other equipment on the ship, only users could instruct the suit to open or close, a measure to prevent accidental exposure to the atmosphere. The only additional features the suit had were twin one-thousand-foot-long grappling hooks, one in each wrist and feet with magnetic or spiked capabilities. With the final additional features explained the tutorial dialog box closed.
Whoever commissioned this suit, must have had great plans to traverse some broken terrain. But the spiked feet are going to come in handy on an ice planet.
After exiting the suit Zade shot a message to Samix. “How much stuff are we going to be taking on this trip?”
“Everything we are taking is staged under the stairs on the terraforming lab side of the bay.” Samix replied
Zade walked to the steps and saw the three crates that he would be carrying for the mission. Taking one at a time, Zade judged that all three combined weighed nearly five hundred pounds. After getting a feel for the load he would be carrying, Zade went back to the protective suit and began to inspect its exterior. The suit must have had some primitive form of AI because as Zade neared it, a message from the suit could be heard through his interface.
“Hello user two. What do you need me to do?” A distinctly female voice said
“Who is this?” Zade questioned
“This is the Argyle protective suit for which you just established a profile. Would you like a unique username?”
“What? The tutorial didn’t say anything about an AI.”
“I am a feature reserved only for users who chose to complete the tutorial.”
“Fair enough I guess, weirder shit has happened to me this month. Call me Zade. Since I am talking to you, do you have a name?”
“Hello Zade, I am designated as an environmental protective suit interface, or ‘EPSI.’ How can I help you today?”
“I will be carrying five hundred pounds of gear five kilometers while in the suit. I need a way to do so while keeping my hands free. Input?”
“If you look at the back of the suit you will see four large holes, two on either side of the back. These are quick connect points for the Argyle load carrying system. After the suit is dawned and closed, the user can attach the system. They are ballistic anchors, that can quickly detach the load in case of emergency. They are capable of carrying one thousand pounds apiece. Made from…”
“Enough, I have what I need. Thank you EPSI, see you in a couple of hours.” Zade said cutting off the rambling AI.
Chapter 8
The ship was on its final orbit of the planet, after which Zade would be going out on mission with Samix. He was currently in the robotics lab fabricating a carrying mount for the team’s equipment, using the anchor point imagery captured earlier that day. He was working on his third, and hopefully last, attempt. The first could hold the load but as Zade picked up the frame and shook it, the bottom supports deformed and dumped the equipment on the floor. After reinforcing the support structure, the second frame’s anchor stubs were misaligned, meaning it couldn’t be hooked to the back of the suit. Zade hoped that this last attempt, the one being finished by the fabrication machine, would work.
Zade grabbed the frame as soon as the machine had finished making it. Still warm to the touch Zade turned it over in his hands inspecting it for any obvious defects. Finding none, he headed out the rolling doors at the back of his lab directly into the cargo bay. Lining up the frame stubs, Zade pressed the frame to the back of the suit, it fit perfectly. As he removed his hands from the frame, it fell with a clunk to the floor.
Frustrated Zade addressed the suit’s AI, “EPSI why won’t the frame stay on the back of the suit?”
“This equipment is not of Argyle Industries design; I cannot allow it to be installed on the suit.”
“Sure it is EPSI, I personally picked it up before we launched. I did modify it though, which is probably the reason you can’t recognize it.” Zade lied.
“Very well. Be advised the use of equipment not authorized for use with the suit by Argyle Industries constitutes a breach of contract and may lead to legal action.”
“I would never even try that EPSI, I love Argyle Industries and their products.” Zade said as he leaned down and grabbed the frame.
This time as Zade pressed the frame into the anchor points there was the satisfying hiss as the anchors engaged. As he removed his hands the frame stayed firmly in place. Zade walked over to the crates and moved them to the suit one by one. Without opening them he had a good idea which one had the drill in it, it was the heaviest. He also guessed which had the sensor equipment in it, but the third was a mystery. When he tried to open it to see inside, Zade found that all three crates had been cypher locked and only Samix could open them.
“EPSI I want to do a test load of the equipment. If I start putting weight on your back will you fall over?” Zade asked
“I will adjust my center of gravity as the load is applied to prevent that.”
As Zade loaded the crates the suit began to lean forward compensating for the weight. Zade knew that look, he had seen it many times before during his army career. It was the look every soldier had when overburdened by equipment. On the frame Zade designed hooks that the crate handles would fit into to prevent them from falling off his back as he moved. Satisfied with how they sat, Zade began unloading the frame. With the frame empty and the suit standing upright once again, Zade ordered EPSI to release the frame. As the anchors released the frame dropped straight down the back of the suit and landed standing up. Zade put the frame on a crate that lined up with the anchor points so he could back right up to it when he was in the suit. As he loaded the frame, he kept the sensors on the top, that way when they reached the site Samix could unload the sensors before he dropped the frame, preventing any damage to them.
Satisfied with his load plan Zade headed back into his lab to grab a weapon and other parts of his kit. The lesson he learned from the last encounter with wildlife was that he would never be caught unprepared again. Returning to the suit Zade laid out the new equipment. First placing the improved railgun which had new power sources with higher capacity. Three railgun magazines that now held small thermobaric rounds and one containing armor piercing rounds. The basic design of the thermobaric rounds allowed them to do, at a minimum, the same amount of damage as regular railgun rounds, but these were packed with explosives, to give homage
to munitions he used on earth Zade called them excalibers. Small sensors on the outside of the round would trigger the explosive when the round was surrounded by anything other than a gas. As a safety mechanism Zade programed the rounds to not arm unless they had reached the incredibly high velocities achieved by being fired out of the railgun. An additional failsafe ensured that even if the rounds didn’t explode, they would do incredible amounts of damage. When the explosives triggered inside of the threat, they would create a small pocket of extremely high temperature and pressure which would expand, doing lethal damage. Zade had hoped that just one of these rounds could successfully neutralize a threat.
Zade had far less confidence in the armor piercing rounds. If armor couldn’t be pierced by a standard railgun round, Zade wasn’t sure how much more effective he could make them at busting armor. These rounds differed from standard rounds only in shape and material. Whereas the original rounds for the railgun were tiny pellets, these were mini sabot rounds, made out of the hardest material Zade could find in the database. The tips of the rounds were milled to a fine point and coated in diamond. Ideally all of the force generated by the railgun would be focused on the tiny point of the round and push it through any armor.
The last piece of equipment Zade laid out was his utility belt with new load carrying vest. The vest was a compression sleeve that extended from Zade’s chest to waist and held pouches of grenades, additional ammunition, a knife and anything else Zade felt he would need for the mission. Attached to the bottom side of the belt was a thigh holster for his 1911. The ivory handled 1911 was the same as you could still see on earth but, Zade had created ammunition for it that mimicked the new ammunition he created for the railgun. As he finished inspecting the gear on the load carrying belt Zade felt the ship start vibrating as it entered atmosphere.
