by Bob Blanton
“We will,” the twins said.
Everyone’s exosuits and helmets came up. “Okay, you just slip the exosuit on. Then pull your hood up and slip your helmet on. The helmet will grasp the collar on your suit and align and seal itself to the suit. Then it will turn the charge on your hood off, so it shrinks to fit; when all is nice and tight, it pressurizes. There is an oxygen canister on the back of your armor.”
“Hey, this isn’t very much air,” Liz complained.
“The suit recirculates your air. It separates the oxygen from the CO2 and stores the carbon, so you only need enough to supplement your requirement when you’re working hard or to repressurize if you get a leak. The suits are self-repairing.”
“This is way nicer than the armor we had to wear in Afghanistan,” Natalia said as she was putting on the armor. “Way, way lighter, and no binding.”
“Didn’t Kal have you wearing armor?” Catie asked. She’d assumed Natalia would have been training in the same body armor that was the basis of the exosuit.
“Oh, I hadn’t gotten to that part yet,” Natalia said. “So, this is what the guys were yapping about. They kept trying to get me to bet on how much my rig would weigh.”
“Good thing we snatched you away from those pirates,” Liz laughed.
“Okay, pull your hoods up, then your helmet,” Catie instructed as she helped the twins do theirs. She pulled her helmet on and felt it seal against her armor and shipsuit. “Everybody on comm?”
“Nattie copies.”
“Liz copies.”
“Sam copies.”
“We copy,” the twins said together, giggling the whole time.
“You two have to quit fooling around,” Catie scolded. “Space is dangerous, and if you want to go with us, you have to be serious. You have to follow orders, you have to identify yourself properly, so we know if anybody is in trouble, and you have to avoid doing anything that could get one of us hurt. Copy!”
“Aalia, copies,” she said meekly.
“Prisha, copies.”
“Better. Now everybody, check to make sure things fit; your HUD works; you’ve got good air; try running in place a bit to make sure you get more oxygen.”
Everyone ran in place for about thirty seconds. The twins stopped first and sat down on the deck. Samantha and Liz were checking each other’s suit after their short burst of exercise. Natalia kept running, and then she stopped and started doing punches, left, right, left, right. After a minute of that, she started rotating her arms, first back to front, then front to back. She hopped up and down a few times; did a few squat jumps; dropped down and did a few pushups; then she stopped. She looked around to see everybody staring at her.
“What? I’m good. Just wanted to make sure I can work in it.”
“You mean fight in it,” Liz said.
“Well, that was the job Kal hired me for.”
Everybody laughed at her a little, but they were also admiring how easily she was able to move in the exosuit.
“Okay, these are your kit bags,” Catie said. She handed each of them a bag. “Take your exosuit off and put it in yours, your clothes as well. Here are another two shipsuits for each of you.” She pulled a stack of suits out of the little cabinet where they had been made. “Shipboots should be coming up soon; they’ll be a lot more comfortable than these armored boots. When they get here, we’ll load up and take it all back to the Lynx.”
The boots arrived by the time everyone had stripped their exosuit and stowed it in the bags. Catie was still explaining to the twins how to make everything fit, and why they shouldn’t put things in the helmet, even if it did fit. “Put your boots on and follow me.”
They all trooped back to the Lynx with their bags. The twins strained a bit to carry theirs, but they didn’t complain. When they got to the Lynx, Catie had everyone go into the cargo hold. When everyone was inside, she motioned the twins to go through the airlock into the main cabin, telling them to take their kits with them.
“Sam, will you stay with the twins and keep them out of trouble? We need to go down to the Sakira’s cargo hold and get some stuff. I think they’ve had enough excitement for the day.”
“So have I,” Samantha said. “I’d be happy to hang out here while you guys work.” She laughed and gave a little wave as she cycled through the airlock after the twins.
“Cer Catie, I can have the cargo bots load everything for you,” ADI said.
“I know ADI, but I think we need to get used to handling this stuff. We won’t have cargo bots with us on the mission, and I’d rather we figure out how to maneuver the stuff now.”
“Good thinking,” Liz said as she slapped Catie on the butt.
It took them a little over thirty minutes to load the cart up and get back to the Lynx. Liz and Catie handed stuff to Natalia, who moved it into place in the cargo hold. Natalia easily maneuvered the boxes that had taken both Liz and Catie together to hand up to her. By the time everything was loaded, Liz and Catie were pretty tired, but Natalia looked like she’d just taken a brisk walk around the ship.
“Boy, I’m sure glad you’re going with us,” Liz said as she sat back on the cart and took a deep breath.
“Me too,” Natalia said. “This was nothing; try loading a truck in one-hundred-twenty-degree heat in the desert. That’ll toast your ass.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
Catie climbed into the Lynx’s cargo hold and looked around. “I think we’ll have to store our other supplies in the main cabin. There’s not much room back here.”
“Will that be a problem?”
“No, but we should probably pull out the back two rows of couches.”
“Oh joy, more work,” Liz moaned.
“I thought you were a Marine,” Natalia teased.
“Operative word there is ‘were’. I’ve been getting used to the good life; besides, I was a pilot, didn’t really have to lug that much equipment around,” Liz said.
“Oh, quit whining,” Catie said. “You should know you’re not going to get any sympathy from me. Especially after that last training session we did. My butt still hurts from getting thrown on it so many times.”
Liz laughed, “You’d better remember that there’s always the next training session.”
Natalia looked at them, trying to figure out what kind of training they were talking about, “Self-defense?”
“Yeah, Krav Maga,” Catie said. “Whenever Liz is frustrated with me, she likes to work on throws and grappling.”
“Oh, you’ve noticed that, have you?”
“My butt made the correlation,” Catie said as she gave hers a rub.
“Would you be willing to teach me some moves?” Natalia asked.
Liz looked at Natalia and shook her head. “Sure, but don’t you already know a bunch?”
“I learned a few in boot camp, but nothing that formal. I was a cargo specialist; we didn’t get much training in hand-to-hand except for the basics.”
“Okay, we’ll have you join us for our next session,” Liz said. “I just hope my back can handle throwing you around.”
Natalia laughed and slapped Liz on the back.
Liz stumbled forward a couple of paces and looked back at Natalia. “Nattie, remember what Catie’s butt told her,” Liz threatened.
“I’ll remember,” Natalia chuckled.
It only took them twenty minutes to remove the six couches and put them on the cart. Catie had ADI drive it back to the hold and let the cargo bots deal with the couches.
“Okay, everyone, this is the suit cleaner,” Catie explained when she got back to the main cabin. “You can change into your regular clothes and dump your suit in here. After an hour, they’ll be all clean and fresh.”
Catie stripped down and changed into her regular clothes then went to help the twins. Samantha had gotten one of the twins out of her suit. When Catie had the suit off of the second twin, she noticed a little whiff. She looked at the twin who just shrugged her shoulders.
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“Okay, I guess I forgot an important element. If you need to go wee while you have your shipsuit on and don’t have time to take it off, there is a little attachment in the head, that’s what we call the bathroom. Anyway, you can hook your hose to it, and it will pull the fluid out just like your exosuit does.” Catie carried the suit to the head and demonstrated. “You Do Not want to put it in the suit cleaner without doing this first, OKAY?”
Both twins nodded their heads. Samantha handed the other twin’s suit to Catie and smiled at her. Catie looked at the other twin, who just shrugged her shoulders as well.
“Okay, let’s go home. Take a shipsuit with you and wear it tomorrow. We start training at ten o’clock,” Catie said.
“We’ll get a lot of looks wearing these,” Liz said. “Are you sure we shouldn’t just wear our regular clothes and change on the Lynx?”
“We could, but all the Oryx pilots will be wearing these,” Catie said. “ADI is making a suit fabricator that we can bring up. I think Uncle Blake and Fred will be handing them out to the pilots pretty soon. They’ll start simulator training soon.”
“Good,” Samantha said. “I kind of liked the looks I was getting.”
“I’m telling Daddy,” Catie giggled.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Samantha said. “We’re a team, and we have to keep our secrets.”
“Right!” the twins echoed.
◆ ◆ ◆
The next morning, they met at the Mea Huli. Catie and Liz had brought the twins, and Natalia had given Samantha a ride on one of the golf carts.
“Hey, Fred, you ready for us?”
“I sure am,” Fred said. “And you ladies sure look nice. I think you’ll be setting a new trend in women’s casual wear.”
Liz punched Fred on the shoulder, “Man the helm.”
Once they were on the Lynx, Catie set everyone to work. “Okay, the first thing we’re going to do is rotate the cabin. We’ll do it a few times until we have it down pat. I want everyone to watch each step so you can do it if you have to.”
She looked at everyone and got nods all around. “First we’ll watch a short video to show us how to do it; ADI and I made these up last night. The first one is on rotating the galley.”
They watched the video on the display in the main cabin. Catie pointed out the critical steps as they came up. “Okay, now, let’s do this for real.”
“Ouch!” Catie shook her hand after it was smacked by the oven door.
“Not as easy as it looked on the video,” Natalia said.
“No, I guess we missed the step where you secure all the doors and cabinets,” Catie said. “And we’re supposed to be doing this in microgravity, but that’s still a good idea.” They went through and made sure all the doors were securely shut and fastened, then started over. After a few minor mishaps, they had the galley rotated.
“Whew, that was a lot of work,” Samantha said.
“It’ll be easier in microgravity,” Catie said.
“It’ll also be easier once you know how to do it,” Natalia said. “You waste a lot of energy doing things that are confusing. You’re tense, so you use the wrong muscles to move things.”
“Well, we’ll soon see,” Catie said. “Time to rotate it back. Then we’ll do it all over again.”
After three tries, they were able to rotate the galley without any mishaps. “That’s good, we’ll try again tomorrow,” Catie said. “Now, let’s do the couches and bulkheads.”
Those were easier, everything was automated, they just had to push the button and get out of the way. They did them a couple of times, then Catie suggested they all take a rest before they tried the shower and the head.
“Whew, I feel a little warm,” Samantha said, “but these suits are keeping me dry and not letting me get too hot.”
“We’ve got the cabin set to eighteen degrees C,” Catie said. “Sixty-five for you Luddites.”
“What’s a Luddite?” the twins asked.
“A Luddite is someone who doesn’t like technology,” Catie said. “It comes from a society of textile workers who destroyed the automatic weaving machines because they were taking away people’s jobs. It came to symbolize anyone who didn’t like technology doing things that people used to do.” Catie liked using answers to questions to sneak in a little teaching for the twins.
“So, why are we Luddites?”
“Because, some of us are still stuck using English measurements like feet, inches, miles, and degrees Fahrenheit.”
“Ohhhh!”
“Well, sixty-five, or eighteen, both are a bit cool, aren’t they?” Samantha said.
“It’s easier for the suits to keep you warm than it is to keep you cool,” Catie said. “By having the cabin just a bit on the cool side, the suit just has to regulate how fast it radiates your heat.”
“Okay, makes sense. I might be packing a blanket,” Samantha laughed.
“Okay, let’s try the last two tasks,” Catie said. “We’ll watch the video on rotating the shower, then do that next.”
The shower was easy to rotate. It was mostly automatic; they just needed to secure the soap and shower wand, then push the button.
“That was easy,” Liz said. “But what do you want to bet the head isn’t so easy?”
“I’m not betting,” Natalia said. “Let’s watch the video.”
“That doesn’t look too hard,” Liz said after the video was finished. “Just make sure the cabinets are closed, and the lid is down. It’s spring-loaded, so it’ll stay that way.”
They all proceeded to the back and watched as Catie and Liz rotated the head, then rotated it back.
“Hey, how does this toilet work?” Natalia asked. “There’s no water.”
“It maintains a mild vacuum,” Catie said. “When you sit on it, you’ll notice the air being sucked through it. That way, it collects everything right away. The flush is a power flush with the lid sealing it. You do not want to flush it while you’re sitting on it.”
Natalia laughed. “I guess not, so no courtesy flushes?”
“The vacuum takes care of that,” Catie said. “I think it’s actually a lot nicer than the ones in the condos. I’m thinking of having mine changed out.”
“Can you do that?” Samantha asked.
“We’re making them for the Oryxes and the Lynxes,” Catie said. “I don’t see why one of them can’t make its way into my bathroom.”
“After I’ve tried it a few times, I’ll let you know if you need to send more than one on a walk,” Samantha said.
“Me too,” Liz added.
Natalia just laughed. “You people are so spoiled. When I was growing up, eight of us had to share one bathroom.”
“Eww,” Liz said. “That would be tough, but does that mean the rest of us should have to rough it?”
“I don’t guess so, just as long as you realize how lucky you are.”
“Oh, we realize it,” Samantha said.
“Make sure everything is back to normal,” Catie said. “Plan on spending the night tomorrow. We want to figure out how we like sleeping in this thing while we can still make changes.”
“Didn’t you guys sleep in it before?” Samantha asked.
“Yes, but then it was laid out flat. This time we’ll see how we like it vertical. Plus, you have to sleep strapped in. So, you don’t fall down to the back of the ship.”
“Oh, good point. We should probably have someone keep watch so that nobody gets hurt,” Samantha said as she gave the twins a pointed look.
“Good point. We’ll set up a watch rotation,” Catie said. Then she made her way into the cockpit.
“Everybody, strap in,” Liz said. Liz made a point to sit next to Natalia. Once everyone was strapped in and focused on the display, Liz turned to Natalia. “Hey Nattie,” Liz whispered.
“What’s up?”
“I appreciate that you had a rough childhood, I think we all do, but I want to tell you something about Catie.”
“I wasn�
��t trying to make anyone feel bad,” Natalia said.
“I know you weren’t,” Liz said. “But we all have hot buttons, and we want to make sure we don’t accidentally push one. Now Catie has had a wonderful life, except for her parents getting divorced and her uncle almost dying in Iraq. Not much bad has happened to her, but…”
“What?”
“Well, she was kidnapped while we were raising the Chagas.”
“What!”
“Yeah, scared the hell out of all of us, all of us except Catie. She still had her specs on, and when ADI was able to track her location, we were able to contact her. She was in the trunk of a car. When she woke up, she texted her father. Said she was gagged and in the trunk of a car. Then she told him to bring the Lynx out to Portugal so we could use it when we raised the Chagas.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am. The girl is tied up, and she’s making sure her plans for the Chagas are being taken care of. She was in the trunk of that car for almost four hours. Then they dumped her in the cabin of a fishing trawler. When we finally got there to rescue her, she had the gag off and had untied herself. We had her lock herself in the room until we could take care of the bad guys.”
“That’s amazing. She must have ice in her veins.”
“You’d definitely agree with that if you ever had to fly against her.”
“Yeah, I heard she’s a pilot.”
“Two kills,” Liz said. She waved Natalia off, “I’ll tell you about it another time. But the other thing I want you to know is this. When we were in Boston for Christmas, Catie saw a news report about working families who had lost their homes. She called one of the shelters that helps them and arranged for the families to have a shopping day at a local mall, then arranged with a bank to take care of their rent, utilities, and deposits for a year.”
“Wow, that is generous.”
“One would think so, but then she donated almost all the money she got for the Chagas to the shelter. So, I don’t want someone making her feel like she’s got it too good; who knows what she might decide she needs to do.”
“Oh, my lord. She really is something,” Natalia said.
“Yes, she is. Don’t get me wrong, she’s still rich, and I want to thump her once in a while, but she is pretty special.”
