Chapter 5
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He stepped down from the airlimo onto the sidewalk, shoes reflecting off the ground as the rest of him in his suit came forth from the interior, a glimpse—if one looked at the sidewalk's surface with his reflection as he leaned forward—of a holstered gun strapped to his waist under his dark grey suitcoat….Cartira Soterios looked up at Nolyn Tower that morning, his patak grim, green eyes studying the building. He moved forward to the doors.
He glanced behind his shoulder to see Azim getting onto the sidewalk after having left his seat and shutting his door at the driverside….The turian nodded at his glance, revealing a pistol discreetly as they approached the doors.
Nolyn Tower's entrance opened immediately to their presence, welcoming them without Kina's implant to activate the security-release….Azim followed Cartira inside.
The doors to the lifts lay ahead….The pair headed for these.
The lift opened as the front doors had, and Cartira and Azim entered.
Cartira's face dropped down to look at the panel for operating the lift….He waited for something to happen, Azim watching from by his left arm, and Cartira used his voice when nothing did, "….Where is she, City….Show me where to locate her…." The lift closed, and they felt the platform start to ascend….Cartira ignored the sudden Vertigo….He shifted his feet and moved back with Azim….Within a few minutes the lift stopped ascending and came to a halt, it opened but Cartira did not recognize the level as the one with the suites in which he and Azim had left Kina and Bildea in the night, "….What level are we on?…." They saw the panel display the floor, "….Why did they bring us to one level below her suites?"
With his gaze moving to the ceiling lights of the lift, "….Maybe they moved?…." Azim sought a way through it, as he expected to find some sort of access panel for the maintenance of the lift but there was none in the ceiling above.
"We're waiting, City," Cartira's voice was a low growl, "….Where is my Lana."
Azim joined Cartira's observation of the display pane for the control panel of the lift:
[ FOLLOW THE LEADER… ]
The pair looked sideways at each other after reading the message in the display pane….Cartira removed his pistol from his holster.
Stepping out of the lift into the hall that lay waiting for them, Cartira looked to see where this so-called "leader" would be found….Azim made a low clicking, and Cartira shook his head, "….No, I go first…." And he did.
The way to the left was cut short by a reflective, silver wall before which stood a table with some bowls and a synthetic yet living plant growing out of a vase, reflected as Cartira and Azim were in the surfaces that made the building's walls everywhere, and the plant's leaves turned towards their presence….Cartira watched as the leaves curiously unravelled from their particularly green curls and straightened towards the opposite end of the hall.
He turned and went right, following the direction of the leaves—as well as the hallway that dictated he go such the way to its other end—and Azim stepped from the lift behind them, the door closing….At the end of the hallway, they had to go left, and were let out into a wide room against which all the walls—corner to corner—had glass cases built from floor to ceiling, and in these were various weapons, knives and guns, grenades and mines, set on the lit-shelves among armor pieces of a technical design.
In the middle of the room were tables for taking out the items for work and whatnot, Cartira concluded, and these tables of metal surrounded three more cases that stood alone, their contents isolated in shadow as the lights (if there were any) were not lit inside like the other cases, but what could be seen were three stasis-contained suits of a black design, one completely silver….To the middle of the room, to these suits did Cartira and Azim approach, "….These look special," Cartira gazed admiringly at the sturdy-looking suits, turning slowly within each case, "….and very expensive," he glanced at Azim.
"Coming from you, Sered," Azim's mandibles flicked apart from his chin, "….that's an admission that even you cannot afford it."
"Maybe I'll have to 'negotiate' for one with Traus," Cartira grinned back at Azim who chuckled….As they started to turn their focus towards finding another sign of "Follow the Leader", the lights in two of the cases came on above the skinweaves, and two pairs of glass panes opened, one for one of the black suits, and one for the silver suit.
Cartira and Azim shared a look.
"I guess no negotiation needed," Azim and Cartira walked back to the cases, welcoming them to the black and silver skinweaves, "….Do we put them on?"
The stasis must have ended as the suits fell from their eternally-suspended spin….Cartira picked up the silver suit and handed this to Azim, noting how heavy it felt, and the black suit he held to himself, which felt lighter, "….You comfortable with that one, this one is not as heavy."
"They're the same size," Azim took hold of the black one, and they switched, holding both up together to compare, "….Maybe it won't fit though…."
"One must put it on to be sure," Cartira looked around the room, saw no cameras nor any other strange happenings, and opened the suit by its clasps and zipper.
"Are you…." Azim appeared hesitant, then looked at their clothes, Cartira's gun which he had holstered to start opening the silver suit and figuring out, "….Where should we store our belongings if we are to wear these….and for why?…." Cartira stopped and looked about them again.…Inside one of the cases were some heavily-tailored bags of a coarse, dark fabric, and he went to the case as it opened, smiling at the anticipation of his new, unseen "friends" helping he and Azim find Kina and Bildea….He took a bag down and opened it to its full dimensions as he strode back to Azim, who was holding the suits that lay partially with their leggings on the floor, these were so heavy to hold up together alone.
"Clothes in here, start changing, Azim," Cartira dropped the bag between them and took the silver suit, "….Our City friends would not be giving us access to such supplies and materials without good reason….Hurry."
"This is all very theoretical, Sered, we don't know why they contacted us and brought us here."
"Yes," Cartira started to undo his holster, "….but for Lana, I must trust the City, as well as my gut."
They started to undress….Cartira kicked off his shoes and undid his belt, moving his gun holster to a table, and then the holster for his knife, Azim following suit….His shoes, socks, pants went into the bag with Azim's clothes piling in, too, and their belts were off, shirts unbuttoned, underclothes remaining with omni-bracelets left on as they forced everything into the expanding bag on the floor.
The omni-bracelets were removed last and set onto a table in front of the skinweave cases….Cartira showed Azim how to open his skinweave, and one by one their feet went into the open holes for the legs, which were wide and spacious, soft against skin, and puzzling as well for the two as they drew the skinweaves up over their legs without problem for the different physiognomies of their species.
They continued to pull the skinweaves up to their torsos, sliding their unique hands down into the sleeve holes, as spacious and soft, loose as the legs and foot coverings now over their lower limbs, "….I don't know how this will help us….It fits me at least," Azim brought the front panels of the skinweave together over his prominent chest cage, closing the zipper and clasps, the suit having reached easily over his unique skeletal construction of Turian form.
"I'm pleased it accommodates your shape," Cartira brought his zipper to his neck, feeling "excess room" in the loose suit around him, and also feeling somewhat letdown in the overall uniform, what with having had such high expectations upon seeing it hold its form in the suspended stasis, "….but mine feels too open—" The final clasp had been drawn over the zipper at his neck, and Cartira felt a sudden pressure about his feet, building towards his ankles….His calves and shins….His knees, thighs, moving upward….The whole suit started to constrict about him, "….Oh," he looked down worriedly at his groin, "….it's getting snug now!"
"….And snugger…." Azim's voice held a tinge of concern to its regular flange as his own skinweave was behaving in the same way….They held their hands and arms away from their bodies as the skinweaves conformed to each physique, and this was phenomenal for Turians are "bone backwards" from Drells, and as they watched each other become completely united to the suits, their hands covered by the material binding around these, taking on each their unique digits to become "gloved"….Cartira's astonished grin grew to a toothy smile as he witnessed the suit behave in the way it did, and beside him, Azim's mandibles flared wide in alarm.
"Kala…." Cartira squirmed at the tickling sensation, "….this is truly alien-technology," he raised his chin as he felt the "weave" extend itself to his throat, the sides of his jaw, spreading from the back of his neck to coat his low crests in its silver resin until it stopped at the fore of his crown, and on Azim, who was struggling with some fear of the black material rising up over his chest cage and into his neck bowl, to his throat and over his horns, solidifying from something soft, warm, and once-malleable but now a hard black encasement that left only his eyes and nose slits free to see and breathe with.
"What type of technology is this?"
"I don't know, Azim," Cartira stretched and moved his body in the second skin, "….but I'm bringing this to my labs on Rakhana….This is definitely coming with us."
"Can we remove it?…." Azim dug his covered talons into the material, leaving no marks nor scores.
"I….couldn't tell you," Cartira ran his hand over the material on his arm, tapping and flicking his fingers against his knuckles and wrist, "….It does seem permanent…." He held his hand out, wriggling his digits, rotating his wrist.
The panes to the third skinweave opened, and the black uniform fell, drawing their attention—Before it landed on the bottom of the case, it had shrank to conform to a perfect cube….Cartira went to the case and reached down to pick up the small cube that now fit in his palm, staring at it then looking over at Azim with a raised eyeridge.
"I hope ours don't do that while we're wearing them," Azim picked up the bag and opened it wider for Cartira to place the cube inside….Cartira was smiling like a joyful child at having discovered a gift, and placed the cube into the bag….Azim closed it, while Cartira went next to the table to get their omni-bracelets.
"That would be painful," Cartira gave Azim his omni-bracelet, and they began to reassemble themselves with their holsters, knives sheathed, and the pistols in their grips, "….Let's get back to 'Following the Leader'…." Cartira waved to Azim as the turian picked up the bag and hooked its straps over his shoulder, and then another case opened—this one against the opposite wall, and they turned to see their newly-granted "access" to shelves with an array of heavy-duty rifles, their mass cartridges, displayed under the lights in the case.…Without hesitation, Cartira approached the opened-case to start looking over their options, Azim hanging back and looking somewhat dubious.
"Just what exactly are we being outfitted for…." He observed as Cartira picked up a rifle and located its cartridge, holstering his pistol in preference of the heavy equipment….He searched among the shelves, following something Azim could not see yet from where he stood….but Cartira could.
"Trust in the 'lights', Azim," Cartira was seeing the same "little blue lights" Kina had seen, leading her on the escape route through the walls of Nolyn Tower, to the roof walk-about where she lay now next to Konis and Bildea—Only these small pixies were dancing free of the silver walls, in the surface of the mirror shelves under the weapons he was guided into selecting, "….for I believe we are being led to a battle."