7Seven Secret Space Guppies
Hey there, and welcome back. I hope you'll enjoy the story and where it is taking us. The 14th chapter already, how many more to go? We'll see, for now, enjoy this one!
Chapter 14: Back to almost normal
2 more weeks have passed. In that time, Gil's conditions improved and recovered. Tomorrow, he will be declared cured and ready for operations again. He was waiting in his medical bed.
"Good morning Gil!" Oona said, entering the room. Gil was still rubbing his eyes.
"Pfff, only one day left. Who knows what the OD did in the meantime." He answered.
"Everything was pretty calm those past weeks. I doubt they did anything critical..." Oona put a plate on the nightstand with some breakfast on it. "Eat it quickly. Then I'll bring you to the robotics department for analysis of your arm."
"Finally. I haven't moved this bad boy in a while."
"Does it hurt anywhere?" Oona approached him. The 2 looked at the arm.
"Not really. There's also no signs of wounds on my skin. We'll see..."
"Yeah, we'll see..." When Gil was ready. Jiang was waiting for them.
"Hello Gil. Finally better, I'm glad about it. What I'm also glad about is your arm. For scientific purposes only." Jiang said.
"It's up to you to tell if it's good, doctor. A piece of OD technology in my body, I don't really know..." Gil replied.
"That's why we'll execute a full analysis of it, and if necessary, some operations. But on the first look..." Jiang approached Gil and lifted the arm. "...It seems very inlaid, but no obvious signs of danger. What do you feel right now, if I move it?"
"Nothing, really. I can't move it myself, hopefully you can fix that here." Jiang pressed all over the arm. "Oush!"
"The wires are sensible... And the metal plates?"
"Ashj! Yes!" Jiang released it and went to a table with a scanner on it.
"Can you put your arm on this table?" Gil obeyed.
"Activating scanning!" The scanner said. Shortly after, on a nearby monitor, images of Gil's arm were projected.
"Hmm..." Jiang looked at it.
"Is it good, or bad? I have no understanding of those x-ray pictures..." Gil said.
"They must have operated your arm themselves too. Look Gil," She pointed at the screen, "in your arm itself are wires and other metallic connections. We won't be able to operate it. Or if you want it to be cut off..."
"No, thank you!" Jiang continued to look, and think.
"Let me see this shoulder protection..." Jiang inspected it. There was a little hidden button on the side of it. It opened a part of the shoulder protection. "Aha! I think this must activate the mechanism to make your arm move again."
Gil looked over his shoulder too. "Well, what is required more?" Jiang looked in the room in the shoulder protection.
"A battery must fit in here. Unfortunately, we don't have OD batteries... Or maybe!" Jiang searched in all the drawers and lockers. "Aha! A soldier could bring this back from the battlefield. It looks big enough to fit your shoulder, but I can always do smaller modifications to make it fit."
"Isn't it, dangerous?"
"What I can see from the images, the OD hasn't put any sort of tracker, self-destruction mechanism or system hacking tools."
"So, I'm safe?" Jiang nodded. Gil was relieved.
"I'm going to charge the battery first. Normally it should fit our charging systems too. And then, we will explore all the possibilities of this OD experimental weapon." Jiang turned around. Gil followed her.
"But why did they even put it on me? Why not on one of their soldiers or robots?"
"I don't know it either. Maybe they were planning to add other control mechanisms. Possibly it's a new sort of their technology, that they didn't want to risk the life of one of their soldiers, instead using you." Gil stayed silent. "Done, let's see if it fits..."
Jiang approached Gil's shoulder, put the battery in it and closed the opening.
"I, can move it! I can move it again!" Gil said, moving his arm. He bent his arm, closed and opened his hand.
"How does it feel?" Jiang asked.
"Like a normal arm, I don't feel any difference."
"Good sign, it was well installed then. Let's see if you can do anything else with it..." Jiang inspected Gil's hand. "It looks like it is derovium, their special metal. You reported the names of their resources, if I remember..." Gil nodded.
"On our mission in the Pacific, indeed..." Jiang went to a little side chamber and came back with a metal plate.
"We used them to test our new weapons." She attached the thing to the ground. "Hit it!"
"What?" Gil was confused.
"With your fist, hit it." Gil obeyed and smashed the metal. It didn't resist, creating a hole in the middle. Gil was surprised.
"This is a power fist!" He said.
"This tool increases your arm's strength. Let me check something real quick..." Jiang removed the battery from Gil's shoulder again and took it to the charging tool. "The battery got partially drained. Every time you hit something hard, it will consume more energy."
"If I use it too much, my arm will just... fall?" Jiang nodded.
"Moving your arm consumes very few energy. Because we only have this battery for you, I'll ask to copy this design and make several just for you. Furthermore, I'll try to upgrade this one to contain far more energy." Gil stayed to help Jiang by bringing different tools or materials needed. It was a very precise work.
After 1 hour, it was finally over.
"You're good to go, Gil. No threats found, reactivated your arm and discovered its use. The battery won't drain rapidly now, but keep an eye on it. You can access it via your arm monitor, I connected it. Another detail that you will find handy is that the hand protection layers are retractable. Like that, you won't accidentally use your power fist. For now, I'll try and optimize the batteries even more, and perhaps, we could add other weaponry on it."
"Everything on its own pace, Jiang. I'm going to see my friends now, thank you for everything!" Gil and Jiang did a handshake.
"Aoush! Don't press too hard!"
"Oh sorry, I'll use my normal arm for handshakes haha!" Jiang waved and Gil vanished.
Gil reached the quarters' entry door. It was like before. It had been so long. Finally, the group was united and ready, again. Gil felt emotional, and entered the room. Everyone were present, looking at him.
"I... Don't know what to say, really..." Gil started. "You can't imagine how happy I am to be back. I can't wait to continue!"
"We're also glad that you're back!" Goby responded.
"Now we can concentrate on our main objective..." Nonny added.
"We'll make them pay for that..." Zooli said, pointing at Gil's new arm.
"I'd like to thank them more!" Everyone looked jumbled.
"Talking about it, how was the analysis?" Deema asked.
"OD tech is all inside my arm now. No possible way to remove it. But Jiang assured that there are no dangers whatsoever."
"Great to hear, but does it have any new uses? How does it work?" Molly asked.
"In my shoulder, we insert a battery to activate the movement mechanisms." Gil pointed at it. "I can use it as a power fist to break things. We tested it on a metal plate."
"Woaw!" Everyone said.
"Will you still be fit to pilot?" Zooli asked.
"Hmm, I didn't ask Jiang, but I guess so. The protection on my hand is retractable..." Gil showed it.
"Valen will decide on it, but I don't think you have to be worried." Molly added. She stood up. "Speaking of which, now that Gilly is finally ready, he awaits for a briefing around... in 5 minutes." The squad nodded and started leaving. Gil turned to Molly. He smiled, and hugged her.
"I hope the group will stay together, with the slight disagreements we had..."
"I'm trying my best, Gilly..." They kissed, and followed the rest.
The ETS arrived at the briefing room. The first time since weeks that all of 7 of them were present. Valen, Laurent, McCrab and Flynn were waiting for them. The 4 stood up and greeted the squad.
"The ETS never fails!" Valen commented. "And Gil... I'm particularly happy to see you back. The real one! I've read Jiang's report on the analysis, a very impressive piece of technology from the OD you have there..."
"It's worrying that it looks more advanced." McCrab commented.
"It is, more advanced." Flynn added.
"But they don't have an ETS! And they are the best weapon to have, haha. Take a seat, everyone, it's time to get back into action now." The Guppies obeyed.
"I still have one more question..." Gil said. Valen listened. "I'll still be a pilot, right?"
"Yes, of course. Now, this is an important briefing. So essential that Mister Richardson want's to talk to you seven." Valen connected the monitor behind him. It was vague first, but the signal stabilized.
"Greetings, and thanks for everyone's presence." Mister Richardson started. "I'm content that the missions on the Moon initiated by the ETS are going well, despite some problems that slowed it down these last weeks. The situation looks in our favour. We'll meet again before the final attack. Commander Valen, you can continue the briefing. I wish the best of luck to all of you."
"Luck's worth nothing. Wish me skill!" Flynn said.
"Another famous quote..." Nonny thought.
"Still the same, Adrian. You have 'skill' enough. Richardson out." Samur left the meeting. All the eyes turned to Valen.
"Until here was the intervention of Mister Richardson... Okay, let's get to the real business." Valen sat down and looked at McCrab.
"We are here for the 3rd panel. But, with the disappearance of Corporal Gil, and our fast progression, the OD decided to move the panel to a more, remote location... On Mars! Orcus Patera." McCrab activated the holographic projector, showing the Red Planet.
"And remote it is! We didn't think the OD could expand to Mars..." Valen added.
"Do we, have any bases there too?" Molly asked.
"Unfortunately not. There was never a real interest in installing outposts on Mars. We do have a couple of spy satellites who helped us reveal their base. Inner information also confirms that the panel got moved there." Valen replied.
"But this lonely outpost is also a big opportunity. It is a recent building, and they still rely on transport ships for food and materials." McCrab added.
"This will be Operation Rubrum: You reach the outpost, infiltrate it, find the panel and leave. A new type of transport ship, with high speed capacities, will bring you to it. It will serve as your temporary base on Mars too. Communicating will be harder, as radio signals have to travel 5 to 20 minutes."
"Anything else we need to know?" Molly asked.
"That everything is almost ready, and that you guys will leave today."
"In that case, let's prepare ourselves." The 7 stood up and greeted the rest.
"Good luck ETS..."
Back into action, after 2 relatively calm chapters. We'll see how their second last mission will go. See you next time!