A Certain Point of View Chapter 3, a bubblegum crisis fanfic

Priss sauntered down the stairs that led to Chaz's room. Sylia had said he could use this section of the basement until he found a place of his own. Somehow, Priss didn't think that was likely to be soon. The auburn hared singer grinned. She certainly wouldn't move out. The pool and all the other amenities you could ask for were right upstairs. If your alarm went off at night, all you had to do was quickly walk to the changing room or take the tube to 'pop' Raven's place. The list went on and on. Priss reached the bottom of the stairs. She raised her hand to knock. Then she heard the voices. "So do you want to go on a date Friday?" That was Chaz's voice! Who was he talking to? "Sure. I'd love to go!" Nene?

Inside the room Chaz and Nene were sitting on the sofa talking over a couple beers. Nene had at first wondered why he had said that he wanted to talk to her. This was turning out to better than she hoped. A date! She hadn't had the chance to go out with a guy since she joined the Knight Sabers. "So where are we going?" she asked cheerfully.

Chaz was feeling high. He hadn't been sure how she would react. "I thought that new romance movie and maybe dinner and dancing. How does that sound?" It had better sound good, he thought. He'd had enough trouble getting everything set up. He'd been kind of worried that she'd say no.

Walking away from the door, Priss was barely keeping a rein on her temper. It wasn't because she liked him, she told herself. She'd just come down here to ask him if he wanted to go out. Nothing special. Nene's six years younger than him for God's sake! How could he think of going out with her? Still fuming Priss walked back up the stairs. Fine then. He can go after that red-haired jailbait. See if she cared.

Matter Over Mind Productions

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MegaTokyo 2032

The Knight Sabers

"A Certain Point of View"

Chapter Three- Ripples in the Water

Nene clapped her hands in delight. "That sounds perfect! When does Mackie want to pick me up?" She smiled. This was going to be fun!

Chaz leaned back into the beat up couch. "I thought he could pick you up after you finish work on Friday. That way you don't have to go to work tired the next day."

Nene blushed.

Chaz realized what she thought he'd meant. "I just thought you would like a break after being out all night," he explained hurriedly.

Nene nodded. "You know, Mackie could have asked me himself. It's a little old fashioned to ask someone to act as a go-between like this." Besides Mackie was cute even if he was a little younger than her. It's not like she would have said no. Chaz was nice and, when he wanted to be, drop dead gorgeous. But Nene knew where she stood with him. He definitely saw her as his little sister. She grinned inwardly. Someday she might surprise her face-changing friend.

Chaz held up his hand. "Yeah, I know. I kind of volunteered for the job. He seemed likely to 'gaze at her from afar' forever." But it had worked. Now all Mackie had to do was to keep from screwing it up. He stood up and adjusted a non-existent tie. "Now it's my turn."

Nene looked up. "You finally going to ask Priss out?" She felt a flash of jealousy for her friend but quickly suppressed it. It was about time. They'd either been avoiding each other or being too bright and cheerful since he got here. Her thoughts unconsciously mirrored Chaz's. Now all he has to do is keep from screwing up.

"Yeah, how'd you guess?" he asked puzzled.

Nene rolled her eyes.

Chaz walked into the meeting room. Nobody. Hmm, that's odd. She'd been talking to Sylia earlier. Chaz wandered down to the hardsuit storage room, although he doubted Priss would be there. But he enjoyed looking over HIS hardsuit.

It had been designed around the same idea as Linna's, but in place of the mono-wire whips and heavy blaster, he had built-in ports to allow his X-ray lasers to fire. Her blasters had more stopping power, but his X-ray lasers had better penetration. After a lot of argument, that he thought Sylia had made more for the humor value than anything else, he'd gotten the high heel jump system removed as well.

His gaze raked over the glossy finish. Chaz, be honest with yourself. As a work of technology it was fantastic, the culmination of many a fanboys wet dreams. Aesthetically . . . it was like looking at a beautiful Lamborgini… painted metallic green. It was a little too generic, and the orange/white color scheme turned his stomach. He'd complained, only to be told that Sylia didn't have the time to change it. The only other person who could was Mackie . . .

Chaz smiled. Now, there's a thought.

He looked around the underground garage. Nobody appeared to be here either. His eyes caught a drift of heat coming from under one of the trucks. Figures. Chaz walked over to the truck and looked underneath. Mackie stood in the auto workspace doing something highly illegal to the engine that almost certainly voided the warranty. "Hey genius! Nene said yes!" Mackie didn't seem to notice at first, being too involved in his project. The boomeroid grinned and counted down slowly. Three. . Two. . One. .

The words visibly registered on Mackie. He turned to face Chaz. "Really? She said yes?" At Chaz's nod, he jumped "Yahoo . . . Ite." Chaz winced in sympathy. Mackie had forgotten about the truck.

"What are you up to down there?" Chaz asked.

Mackie with one hand on his head checking for bumps waved with the other at the disassembled engine. "The truck had a little engine trouble after the last mission. So after I retuned the KnightWings engines I thought I'd give it a tune up."

Chaz shook his head in exasperation. Mackie really needed to get out more. He waved at the large piece of machinery waiting to be installed. "And that's a spark plug right?"

Mackie grinned ruefully. "OK. Maybe I did want to improve the performance of the power plant a little." He grabbed a rag and walked out from under the truck.

"The date is set for next Friday," Chaz said. "I've already made all the arrangements. All you have to do is show up." And pay for it of course. "It's just like we talked about. Movie, dinner and dancing. Think you can handle that?"

Mackie nodded eagerly. "Sure. And if you need a favor don't hesitate to ask."

Chaz gave the teen a wicked grin. "You know, it's funny you should say that . . . "

Mackie's smile turned slightly sick and his fingers gripped the rag a bit harder. He got the feeling he shouldn't have.

Chaz pulled up next to Priss's place. She wasn't supposed to be working tonight and it was still pretty early. Yep, Her bike was in its usual hiding place. He could see the cooling engine in the darkness. Probably left just before Nene did. He knocked on the door. Priss opened the door. "Hi Priss." Chaz tried to look as confident as he could, completely missing Priss's expression. "I was wondering if you wanted to go out tonight." Priss seemed to consider the thought for a moment.

God! He had nerve! He got a date with Nene and then comes right over here like nothing happened and asks me out. Priss wasn't sure if she was more upset about the order she came in or that he was going to two-time Nene. Well! He wasn't going to get away with it. "You jerk!" Her fist flashed out striking him across the cheek. Hard.

Chaz reached up to get some bandages down from the cupboard. "You know you really have to stop going around slapping boomers like that." Moving aside a huge stack of instant ramen, he pulled the bandages and tape down. "What was the problem anyway?" He sat next to her on the beaten up couch and started wrapping her hand. In a way he was perversely glad she'd hit him. It meant that for at least a moment she'd forgotten what he was.

Priss was furious with herself. She had almost forgotten about he was a boomer, and then this. Bastard wasn't even bruised. It had purpled for a second than it had faded. "How could you make a date with Nene and then come over here and ask me out?" With a wrench she pulled her hand away from Chaz's help and continued wrapping it herself. "I was outside the door when you asked her."

Chaz smiled to himself. That explained it. This should be good. He made his voice as cold as possible. "You know people who listen in on other's conversations generally get what they deserve." He ignored her flashing eyes. "I was asking Nene out all right . . . "

Priss broke in as her pride flashed into a roaring fire. "That's another thing! How could you go out with Nene and not with..."

"For Mackie," Chaz said letting the other shoe drop.

"me." Priss stammered to a stop and the flame abruptly extinguished itself. She hadn't done it in years. She couldn't believe she was doing it now. Priss blushed.

Chaz grinned and looked into her eyes. "Now what was that you were saying?" He was going to enjoy this thoroughly.

"You were asking Nene out for Mackie?" she asked almost meekly.

Chaz nodded. "Yup." God! This made up for the time she'd embarrassed him by taking pictures during his suit fitting.

Priss glared at him, cold suspicion quickly chilling her heated embarrassment. "You're enjoying this aren't you?" she accused. Chaz's face changed to mirror her own glare. Priss watched as her face changed expression. In moments she saw her own mocking smile. "Yep." Her own voice too! God-damn it! She grabbed him around his throat. "Do that again and I'll make copies of those pictures I took and give them to Sylia, Linna and Nene, maybe even Mackie."

What was she? A mind reader? Chaz changed his face back. "You wouldn't!" He saw the gleam of triumph in her eyes. "You would." He sighed. "Okay. I'll stop." He'd almost forgotten what he came here for. "You never did answer my question you know."

Priss thought about it. "Actually tonight's no good to go out." She raised one eyebrow playfully at his disappointed expression. "I'm washing my hair."

"Ouch." Chaz winced theatrically. He'd said the same thing when Priss had asked him to go hear her play at Hot Legs. He collapsed back onto the couch clutching an imaginary wound. "A touch. I do confess it I fear I breathe my last."

Priss ignored the sarcasm and moved closer on the couch. "So I guess we'll just have to stay home tonight." Priss snuggled in closer. "So Hamlet," she said tilting her head up to his. "What should we do tonight?"

Stifling the obvious literary reply, Chaz slowly bent his head down to hers. The promise of a warm sweet kiss beckoned from her lips.

The watch alarms went off of course. Quickly grabbing the startled Priss, he gave her a quick, deep kiss. "I promise the next one will be longer," he whispered quickly. With a surge of motion he was on his feet. "Come on Priss!" he said as he pulled her up.

Priss was a little lost in the haze. She'd wanted to. .And that kiss . . . Shaking herself she grabbed her keys and helmet and headed for the door. Chaz was already closing the door of Sylia's car as Priss came out. "I'll race you there!" Priss called out as Chaz pulled out into the road. "The loser buys dinner for the winner!" Without waiting for him to answer Priss started her engine.

A few minutes later Chaz walked into the changing room grinning from ear to ear. Priss came in right behind him, a disgusted look on her face. Sylia, Linna and Nene were already in their hardsuits as the pair stripped and pulled on theirs.

"Why the smile Chaz?" asked Nene as she helped tighten Priss's softsuit.

Chaz nodded at the irate Priss. "Ask the speed demon there. She challenged me to a race."

Sylia looked up sharply. "Not in my car!" she said in a horrified voice. "That car's a collector's item!"

Chaz waved her off as he finished slipping on his hardsuit. "I didn't even have to speed. She got pulled over by the THP halfway here."

Nene and Linna laughed. Even Priss's silent glare didn't stop them.

Together they walked out of the changing room and into the truck. As soon as the door closed Mackie pulled out of the garage.

Poor Priss, Mackie thought sarcastically as he pulled off the highway and changed the truck's camouflage to a delivery truck macro. He'd had to take the damn thing apart twice to get it to work correctly. If they had driven it one more time as the Silky Wagon people would start getting suspicious. In the back Linna, Nene and Chaz could still be heard laughing at Priss's expense.

Sylia raised her voice above the din. "One of our retainer clients is being robbed by a team in stolen military battle armor. Mackie says the ADP has already arrived on the scene and is engaging them."

"Ah Sylia," Priss complained, "you really didn't need everyone for that. You, Linna and me can take out those with no effort. Heck, even Nene could take one of THESE guys."

Nene ignored the dig, satisfying herself with a pledge to temporarily disable Priss's credit cards when she got the chance.

"True, we don't all need to be here. But my sources tell me that GENOM is definitely after our hides now." She glanced at everyone meaningfully, stopping for a three count on Priss. "That means until things cool down we play it as safe as we can."

Mackie yelled from the front. "They're two blocks East from here. I'll be on the West side in ten minutes." As he said it he pulled the truck to a stop and popped the doors open. Quietly the hardsuited Knight Sabers disembarked. Nene ran point, her ECM covering their arrival. As Mackie pulled away, the Knight Sabers activated their thrusters and flew to the top of the building. Reaching the top they bounded across the building and jumped to the next. Nene and Chaz peeled away and bounced toward the far left corner while Sylia, Linna and Priss moved to stand at the center of the building.

Chaz looked over the edge of the building to the smoke filled street. Below them the merc team was holding off the ADP quite easily. Every time something large appeared one of the robbers would use an arm mounted beam cannon. There were several burning cars and a few bodies lying in their path. What a mess.

Quickly sizing up the situation, Sylia dropped first, her customary command hanging in the air behind her. "Knight Sabers. Go!"

Linna and Priss dropped right behind her leaving Nene and Chaz on the roof as backup.

Eric Gorder was having a bad day. They should have been in and out of this place in minutes. Instead they had gotten caught by an ADP patrol and held up. But ADP wasn't the real problem. If they couldn't get out of here soon USSD would show up to reclaim their armor. Eric stood up from behind the wreck of a car Haya had blasted earlier. The bullets from the ADP whined uselessly off his armor. The flame concealed his movements from the ADP but allowed him to see them clearly. He quickly scanned the opposition. Perfect. There's the cop in charge. Polish him off and there should be enough confusion to let them get away. Ignoring the sounds of violence behind him Eric armed his shoulder missile launcher and aimed at Leon's head.

Chaz was too excited to sit still. He'd been training for a couple of weeks now, waiting for this. Sylia was still having trouble adapting some of the equipment to fit his 'specialized' needs and the generic suit wasn't quite what he wanted. But she had agreed he could hold his own if he had to. Backup in a hard-suit was better than sitting in the truck with Mackie. He'd done that once. Once was enough. Mackie had a complete breakdown of the sensors from all the Knight Sabers. With that setup he kept track of everything and watched out for surprises. The down side was if he saw something all he could do was give a warning. If Chaz had been susceptible to them he would have gotten an ulcer in minutes at that job.

A movement below dragged his attention away from his reverie. One of the armored suits was drawing a bead on Leon. Chaz's eyes quickly sought out the other Knight Sabers. Linna was whittling her opponent's armor away with quick flips of her monowire ribbons. Sylia was systematically turning her opponent's armor into junk with quick shots from her gauss gun. Priss was boxing with her opponent, looking for a place to slam a railgun bolt home where it wouldn't kill the armor's occupant. "Shit," he said succinctly. He focused on the armored suit's shoulder and fired his palm laser. To his spectrum sensitive eyes the beam appeared as a coruscating ray of energy. The core was dazzling with the secondary radiation forming a bluish corona. Everybody else just saw a brief line of sparks where the X-rays made particles in the air vaporize or incandesce. That didn't stop the beam from doing its job. The beam sliced deep into the missile launcher setting off the primed warhead in a satisfactory explosion. With a scream of rage Nene's voice came over the encrypted voice net. ALMOST nobody else could see it, Chaz corrected himself.

"What the hell was that?" The redheaded hacker yelled. "That nearly overloaded my EM detector!"

"Um. . . Me," Chaz explained contritely. "Sorry. That asshole was about to remove the head from our favorite police inspector." He looked back down. The fight was almost over. The one he shot wasn't moving. Probably stunned by the explosion. Linna and Sylia had cut the power systems to their opponents, leaving them largely helpless. Priss seemed to be enjoying dragging it out. She was physically weaker than her opponent, but her speed more than made up for it. With a rapid series of hammer blows, Priss had disabled half of the armor's weapons systems. Slipping under a wild swing, she went to work on the other half. Chaz saw it coming before it happened. "Oh Hell. That's going to sting," he whispered as Mackie gave Priss warning.

Priss ducked under a second wild swing and straight into the suit's up-thrust knee. The blow caught the singer squarely in her helmet and cracked her faceplate. Priss's voice came over the radio. "Shit! I'm blind!" came her voice over the com-link. Chaz raised his arm to protect her, but Nene waved him off pointing to Sylia who had the situation well in hand.

Sylia raised her gauss gun and proceeded to knock the advancing armor on its ass. "Priss, keep your faceplate closed for now. I've got him." Closing rapidly she kept up her fire on the downed armor.

Man, you didn't know when you were well off, Chaz sympathized, as Sylia used precision fire from her gauss gun to quickly cripple the all ready damaged armor. Well, that's that. He looked back at the armor on the ground. It was struggling to get up. Chaz smiled. The ADP K-12 on its back was making it difficult for the suit to move at all, let alone get up. Must be one of the world's most expensive paper weights. Linna and Sylia grabbed Priss around her waist and thrustered up to the opposite side of the street. "We're finished here. Jump over and we'll leave," Sylia called.

Nene nodded and sprang over using her jump system and a brief burst of power from her thrusters. Chaz ran back to the other side of the building and returned going full barrel to build up speed. He jumped at the very lip of building. He got about three-quarters across before he realized he was going to fall short. Damn. Kicking in his flight system, he finished the jump. He'd really been hoping to avoid using it. He landed a little off center on the other side.

Sylia stood there with her hands on her hips. "Still think the jump system is unnecessary?"

Chaz snarled. "I don't care what you say. I'm not going to wear those damned high-heels!" He waved back at the chasm. "Besides, with my 'enhancements' I've got almost the same jump range." If Chaz didn't know better, he would have bet that Sylia's helmet was giving him a skeptical look. Still, she didn't say anything as she walked over to the buildings edge.

Sylia jumped off the other side. "I think you'd look cute in high-heels," she said as she dropped out of sight.

Chaz charged the edge and dropped off. "Sylia! You take that back!" Braking with his suit thrusters Chaz landed neatly on top of the truck. You wait until Mackie's finished. Then we'll see. Mumbling to himself, Chaz closed the door.

Mason sat alone in his office, fuming. Quincy had given him an ultimatum. Finish the Knight Sabers now or be replaced. He was like a dog being sicked on a pest the master couldn't be bothered to deal with. He'd been relieved of the Integrated Technological Unification project. That bitch Madigan had it now. It was almost a sure sign that he was being ousted. If he couldn't at least finish this project. . .What the hell was he going to do? Quincy obviously expected him to take care of the matter himself. The Lazarus project wasn't really ready yet. The designs for the improved body were at least a week from testing and it was getting more and more difficult to hide what he was doing. Flint, over at the research center, had agreed to store the project for now. A head on confrontation with the Knight Sabers! He wanted it so bad he could taste it! But caution was beginning to leak through his wall of confidence. He'd been given authorization to use whatever he needed. But if he failed. . . Mason paused. He had never thought about failure before. It hadn't been an issue. He swore and shook the unfamiliar chill from his mind. Damn it all to hell! Things hadn't really started to go to hell until the Knight Sabers had gotten involved with his USSD project. He'd watched the news last night. The Knight Sabers had added a member. A cameraman had picked out the new orange and white, male hard-suit standing on the building next to the older pink one. Who picked those colors anyway? He waved off the errant thought. The new one would be the weak link. He could at least take him out. That might give him a stay of execution from Quincy. Enough time, perhaps, to finish the Lazarus Project. With that finished he could take on anybody. Mason smiled. All he had to do was kill the newest Knight Saber. He walked to the planning room. It should be easy. After all, he'd been killing for GENOM for years.

Chaz, dressed in his usual T-shirt and jeans, sat in the meeting room. The debriefing was turning out to be taking longer than the fight had. Priss was being reminded that there was no reason for her to go hand to hand like that. If she really wanted a change of battle tactics she'd have to consent to a change of weapons.

"But I like the razor gun!" Priss complained. "It has the most penetrating power of any weapon we have." Not to mention the thing was fun to use. "Besides, what would you recommend as a replacement?" She could at least find out her options. She thought.

Nene leaned over to whisper to Linna. "I think Priss is just gun happy."

Linna stifled a laugh and whispered back. "It's not how big your gun is. It's how you use it."

Chaz hid his grin as best he could. They sometimes forgot that whispering was no good around him. Still, he had to admit that they had Priss pegged. All puns, aside she really did like big guns.

"I was thinking another shaped explosive system like Linna's knuckle bomber," Sylia explained. "Maybe we could move your railgun to the other arm. But that would leave you a little short of power at times."

Chaz smiled. The basic problem was Priss wanted heavy long-range firepower AND heavy close range firepower. The hard-suit's power system apparently couldn't support that. Not for long anyway. A sudden thought struck him. "Why does the Knuckle bomber use power at all Sylia?"

Sylia looked annoyed for a moment. "The knuckle bomber uses a strong magnetic bottle to contain and focus the explosive release into a fine stream of near plasma."

Hmm. . . He decided to chance it. "What about giving Priss an additional power source?" he volunteered. "Than she could keep both the blaster and the railgun."

Sylia looked over at him for a moment before answering. "Chaz, every armor segment IS a power source," Sylia clarified. "They function as flexible batteries." She paused. "Talk to me later and we'll start bringing you up to speed on hard-suit design."

Chastened, Chaz shut up. Just how did those things work anyway? He'd used them a few times. Once in combat and a couple times in training. He still had no idea how they functioned. Black magic probably.

"I think I'll stick with my current weaponry for now Sylia," Priss decided. "If you can get the bomber system a little smaller I wouldn't mind one." She thought about it. "And maybe one on each foot."

"I'll keep that in mind for the upgrades," Sylia assured her.

"What about my weapons Sylia?" Nene asked.

Sylia inclined her head. "Nene you know we can't put much more in your hard-suit. The power drain from your sensors, ECM and ECCM gear is simply to great."

Nene sulked. "That boomer the other night almost took my head off because the machine-gun didn't bother it." The less said about that pathetic excuse for a laser the better.

"I'll see what I can do about it." Sylia sighed. Sometimes it was like teaching grade school. A violent one, true, but a grade school none the less. "Is there anything else?" Silence. Then she heard it. Looking behind her she saw Mackie's head lying on the sofa. The droning noise was coming from his open mouth. "I think that answers that question. I'll see you all Saturday night then." She placed a blanket over her sleeping brother as the rest of the Knight Sabers left. Mackie, sometimes I don't know what I'm going to do with you.

"So what do you want to do now?" Chaz asked Priss. It was too much to hope that she'd want to pickup where they'd left off.

Priss considered it for a moment. "It's a little late for you to ride back to my place with me." She grinned as his face fell. "I guess I'll just have to spend the night here." Her grin got broader as she looked into his eyes. "So. . Want to show me your etchings?" she asked mischievously, putting her arms around his neck.

Chaz grinned. "Sure. In fact I think the one I've got in the bedroom will suit your tastes perfectly. Though you will have to lay on the bed to see it."

Mackie rushed down the stairs. "Chaz! Chaz!" He banged on the door. "Chaz!" He must be sleeping. Opening the door Mackie walked in. He looked around. Let's see. Mess in the kitchen. Empty bottle of wine on the cable spool table. Clothes scattered across the floor. Priss. Ah! There he is. "Chaz!" Mackie walked to the bed.

Chaz opened his eyes and looked at Mackie. Anyone else would have gotten the hint when he hadn't answered the door. He should really think about getting a lock for it. He smiled evilly. I'm not going to deal with this, he decided. Leaning over he nudged Priss. "Wake up hon," he said gently.

Mackie finally noticed what his eyes had been trying to point out to him for several seconds now. With a surge of adrenaline, his survival instincts kicked in. Priss was here! In bed with Chaz! He had to get out of here before she woke up! He turned and promptly tripped on Priss's jeans. Oh Shit! She's going to kill me! he thought as he tumbled to the floor in a quivering heap.

Priss slowly opened her eyes and cuddled closer to Chaz. "Good morning lover," she said in a sleepy bedroom voice. "Up for a morning rematch?" she asked as she rubbed his chest gently.

"I think we slept in Priss." Chaz nodded at the clock.

Priss glanced over at it and did a double take. "That's the time!" Her eyes came wide awake. "I've got a gig today! You Jerk! I'm going to be late for rehearsal!" She stumbled naked out of bed heading for the shower. "Why didn't you wake me?" she demanded irately.

Mackie lay cowering beside the bed. Any minute she's going to find me. Then. . . his mind was fully capable of realizing what the result of his discovery would be. It just preferred not to. Mackie shuddered.

"I didn't know you had a performance today. And you looked too beautiful asleep to wake you," Chaz yelled to the bathroom. Turning from the sight of Priss climbing into the shower, he looked over at quivering boy. "Mackie, I SUGGEST you get out of here before she comes back," he whispered to the cringing teenager.

Mackie concurred. Unwrapping his ankle from the jeans, he shot out the door.

When Mackie had made his exit, Chaz stood up and walked to the shower. "Need someone to wash your back?" he asked as he opened the curtain.

Priss leaned back into the pressure of his fingers. Man! That felt good. "Is Mackie gone?" she asked lightly as he lathered her shoulders.

"You saw him?" he asked as he rubbed his hands down her back. God! Her hair was beautiful when it was wet! The water brought out the highlights and made it look like an auburn river.

"Mmmmmm." She arched her back against his fingers. "A little to the right. . . Thank you. No. I heard him. When he came up to the bed." She grinned. "What you did to him was mean and cruel." She licked her lips. "I liked it." Besides, he deserved it.

Chaz finished washing her back. "I thought it no less than he deserved. Besides," he laughed, "you should have seen his face!" He caught her waist and turned her around to face him. "It was classic." He leaned down to kiss her.

"Mmmm. Hold that thought 'til tonight. Right now I'm late." Priss stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. "You going to come to the show tonight?"

Chaz nodded underneath the running water. "You bet." At least the change hadn't taken the pleasures of life away from him. The hot water felt wonderful. And Priss? Indescribable. "Wouldn't miss it."

"Great! I'll see you there." Priss grabbed up her clothes and hurriedly put them on. "Don't forget!"

Chaz stuck his head out of the shower to look at her as she left. That last line had sounded less like a reminder than like a threat.

"So Mackie," Chaz asked Sylia's brother, "what was so important that you didn't notice Priss?"

"I finished the project you asked me to work on," Mackie said grinning.

"No kidding!" Chaz was amazed. "When did you find the time? I just asked you yesterday!" He started walking briskly towards the hard-suit storage area.

"Not that way," Mackie called. "You think sis would let me work on one of hers?" He shook his head. "This way." Mackie led the way to the hanger. "She almost never comes up here," he explained. "Except for missions." He waved at the back of the large facility to the KnightWings hydraulic lift. "Over there I can tinker to my heart's content. If I could figure out a way to hide it I would have brought my armor outside too. Damn thing's too big." The young teen stopped and grinned at Chaz, "You should see the bike I'm putting together at Professor Raven's." His eyes shone as he talked about his machines. With a magicians flair he waved at what stood on a hard-suit rack, "There she is."

Chaz stood speechless. It was perfect. Just like he'd imagined it would be. The dark blue, almost black, armor plates against the matte-black, flexible, plas-steel jointing was striking. He couldn't wait to try it on.

"Maybe I should amend what I said earlier," Mackie clarified. "The work is almost done. I finished the basic actuation system and the armor plates. I have to wait before I can put in the control system, sensors, and weapons in," the teen explained.

Chaz rubbed his hand over the armor like a lover. "What's the hold up?" He had been willing to wait weeks. But he was impatient now. He had debated about using Sho's suit as a design base. After wrestling with the problem for a couple days he'd decided on the Guyver III armor instead. It looked nastier.

Mackie shrugged. "Well, I actually went looking for you last night. I could have used the help." Mackie's grin underwent a metamorphosis to become a leer. "Now I know why you didn't answer your door." The leer faded as he resumed talking about his first love. "The real holdup is parts. I also have to get custom made virtual view screens for the eye pieces." He nodded at the hard-suit. "The helmet you asked for is too small to accommodate the large ones the rest of the suits use."

"What about just feeding the sensor inputs through my AI?" Chaz asked hesitantly. After his debacle at the debriefing the last thing he needed was to get slapped down again.

Mackie blinked. He'd forgotten again. "You know, for that matter we can strip down the control system too," he said thoughtfully. He was growing excited. This was a lot different from making a hard-suit for a normal person. He loved a challenge and this promised to be a good one. A sudden thought ran through his mind. He smacked his forehead. "I'm going to have to totally rework the actuation system too. It would be a lot more efficient if it added to your own strength instead of just working around it."

Chaz took off his shirt. "Well Sylia said she wanted me to start learning suit design and systems."

Mackie paused in mid thought. "Sis said that?" he asked carefully.

"Yeah. Why?" Chaz was puzzled; he hadn't thought there would be a problem.

Mackie wiped his hands off and stepped up to an intercom. "Sis?" After a moment Sylia answered. Her face appearing in the intercom window.

"Yes Mackie. What is it?" she answered brightly.

"Did you say you wanted Chaz to learn hard-suit design?" He asked the question liked he expected the answer to be no. Briefly, Chaz wondered why.

"Yes I did Mackie. He needs to learn all the basic principles and philosophies except the primary field unit operations." She quieted. "Maybe later we can go into those too." She continued. "For now show him actuation and armor. You can cover sensors and weapons later." She disconnected.

Mackie looked at the intercom for a moment. Then turned around with a puzzled look on his face. "Man! I NEVER though she'd tell dad's secrets to anyone." He looked up at Chaz. "No offense intended. But she never told Professor Raven some of the things she wants me to show you." I wonder why him? He dismissed the thought. Sis ALWAYS knew what she was doing. "All right. We'll start with the basic actuation system."

Two hours later Chaz was even more amazed. "That's how you managed to fit myomers into the same space with a normal human arm?" The hookup had turned out to be very simple. It was the application that was giving him problems.

Mackie sat back and relaxed for a moment. "Yup. If you do it any other way you waste too much space." He pointed at the assembly. "That, the actuation control system and the field sis mentioned are what allow the Knight Sabers to have the best powered armor in the world." He smiled. "Dad figured it would take an arm at least three times as big to do it any other way with the same strength. Using flat motors might do it. But it would eat a hell of a lot more power. It probably gives GENOM fits trying to figure it out."

Chaz nodded. He could see why. "That's why all the other systems seem so large in comparison. I take my hat off to him. Dr. Stingray was a genius and a half."

Mackie stood and started back to work. "Yeah, he was a little naive though. He trusted GENOM until it was too late to stop them. Then came the 'accident'." He grimaced. "I pity the poor guy if sis ever finds out who did it. I'd kill him myself if I could." Mackie shook his head and continued working in silence.

Chaz carefully kept his face neutral. She never told him, Chaz thought. She knows Mason did it and she never told him. Putting the disquieting thought from his mind. Chaz reached up and helped Mackie.

Four hours later they finished. Chaz stood back to look at it. The armor looked the same as when he'd first seen it. Amazing. All the changes we made and it still looks the same. Of course they hadn't changed the armor plate at all, just the interior. "When do you think we'll get a chance to install the subsystems?"

Mackie looked at the armor. "We can probably install the thruster units tomorrow. The rest depends on sis." He turned and started wiping bio-fluid off his hands. "If we could, I'd leave space for your sensors to work directly." He appeared to consider it a moment and then shook his head. "Nah. That's TOO dangerous."

"Why?" Chaz hated to rely on the suit's displays for information if he didn't have to.

Mackie held up a piece of armor. "This battery plate is only about as tough as ordinary steel. Once the diffraction coating goes on, that's about the limit of what we can do to it without sacrificing power."

Chaz nodded. The plas-steel joints were about the same strength. "So why not use real armor?"

Mackie nodded. "Not a bad idea at first. Real armor would allow the suits to take more punishment. But when you start adding on the flight system, sensors, and weapons you quickly run out of available power. A power cell can only hold so much and a generator can't put out the power we need in the space we have available. Plus you lose a lot of mobility." He paused dramatically. "Then there's the field effect. THAT immediately throws all arguments for heavy armor out the window. Open that panel in the small of the back."

Chaz did. The revealed cavity was empty. It had two large connections and a couple sensor leads running into it. The first connection looked, to his admittedly inexperienced eye, like a primary power lead. The second seemed to connect to the lining of the suit with induction points for the soft suits. He frowned at it for a couple seconds before giving up. "Okay. What am I looking at?"

Mackie smiled. "That is where the Knight Sabers Black Box will go."

Chaz stood up and gazed steadily at Mackie. "Pardon teacher. I must have come in late. What the heck is a Black Box and what does it do?" Chaz asked calmly.

"The box that fits in there makes thick armor superfluous." Mackie explained. His voice turned serious. "Now this is between you me and sis." He waited for Chaz's nod before continuing. "Dad discovered the field accidentally while working on a new myomer system for his prototype boomers." He smiled. "Actually, as a myomer it sucks. Nobody's ever figured out why. But when you enclose a volume with the myomer fabric and apply what was intended as the actuation field you get something better." He waited.

Chaz frowned and then lightened up. Okay. I'll play the straight man. "What do you get?" he asked in his best eager student voice.

Mackie's smile got broader. "Loosely speaking an energy damping field." He leaned over to the computer and punched up a couple graphs. "Within a certain range of volume the field works best. Too much or too little and the field power dies off quickly."

Chaz looked at the graph. The peak zone was in the point one to point one seven cubic meter range. "So?"

Mackie nodded. "I said the same thing. What Dad realized is that is almost the same volume a medium sized person takes up." He saw Chaz's confusion. "A medium sized human being will fit in the field."

Comprehension dawned in Chaz. "The field is what allows the battery plates to act as armor."

"Right. In theory we shouldn't need the armor at all. But for a number of reasons it's necessary. Look at the second graph." Mackie pointed to the screen. "See the area marked vulnerable zone." Chaz nodded. "That's why we have the armor. Within that area the field effect is negligible. We had to tune it that way or we wouldn't be able to move in there."

Chaz laughed. "Let me get this straight. A DPU round fired at point blank range won't put a crease in the plate but a knife would slide right through?"

Mackie shook his head. "Almost. The knife would have to be monomolecular or laser energized to pass through the armor. As for the DPU round. Well, it depends. You see the field draws power to fight sudden changes to anything solid within the field. But it can only draw on the power you give it. The hard-suits have a finite power supply. Exceed it and the field breaks down. The attack, whatever it is, gets through with whatever power it has left." He made a throat slitting gesture. "To use your example. If the DPU hit hard enough it would destabilize the field until it could reform. During that time the shell would probably do an incredible amount of damage. That's why we practice not getting hit. The hard-suits can take a lot of punishment. You don't want to take the shot that they can't. The other down side is that you CAN'T put a large person inside the field. Men are almost always too big. As it is you skate the thinning edge of the field."

Comprehension dawned. THAT was why Sylia had designed the hardsuits for women. Space conservation. Women tended to be smaller. Chaz nodded judiciously. "Okay. So what's dangerous?"

Mackie shrugged. "What you've been taught. Relatively heavy, slow moving objects. Boomer kicks and punches scrape the bottom of the effect and no matter what the attack there's ALWAYS some bleed through. The field isn't instantaneous and it ignores all the energy up to the top of the danger zone. In theory force beams could unbalance the field too."

Chaz thought about it. "In theory?"

"No one's has come up with one yet to test it." Mackie shrugged. "A long fall will hurt. A short fall could hurt just as much. It's the paradox of the system."

Chaz nodded absently, he was beginning to understand.

Mackie's eyes snaked to the clock on the wall. Suppressing a grin, he changed the subject. "When's Priss's concert anyway?" he asked innocently.

Chaz checked the time. "Oh Hell!" he exclaimed. Dropping the rag he'd been using, he was across the sub-garage before it finished falling.

Mackie reached down and picked up the discarded rag. With a whistle he went back to work. What goes around comes around Chaz, he thought with a grin.

Chaz raced to the ground floor garage. Where's the car? Priss started in ten minutes! If he wasn't there she'd kill him. He paused. No, she'd think of something worse. Inside, his AI took his frantic thoughts as a signal to start a count down. 8:48 it chimed dutifully. Great. The Kats nightclub was 9.65 kilometers from here. His top speed was higher than that, but he'd have the ADP firing on him before he made it there. He could see the map in his minds eye. Unless . . . he made an adjustment to his mental map. 6.5 kilometers not phenomenal, but doable. If he were caught it would be tough to explain. However, it would be easier than telling Priss why he had missed her concert. He grabbed his coat and ran out the door.

Priss jerked the stage curtain open and peered at the crowd. Where is he? Priss could feel her anger growing as she looked out from behind the dark blue fabric. Letting the curtain close she stormed back to her bench. Her hands tightened around the neck of her guitar. He knows I start performing at eight. "He'll be here," a part of mind said. "He had BETTER be," another part answered.

Chaz looked down into the abyss before him. This may not be such a great idea. He looked across the canyon. Kats was on the other side. If ran around he'd be late. He looked down. Only 32.4 meters, his range finder told him. Could be worse. In some of the places the rift ran up to 50 meters deep. 06:20 came the chime from the AI. Great. At least he'd spotted a good landing zone. Running to build up speed, he jumped off the edge. This is going to hurt, he thought briefly as his feet left the ground.

Priss finished tuning her guitar for the third time. She looked around. The other band members were waiting on her. I'm going to kill him. She looked again at the crowd; still no Chaz. She sighed and amended the thought. Painfully. Waving to her band mates, she walked out on stage.

01:03 the AI chimed. Just a little more. Chaz was looking much less than his best. His pants and coat had gotten ripped when he'd jumped the razorwire fence. The mud puddle next to the pond he'd landed in had added to the decor. The less said about the numerous small knife cuts and holes the better. He was not in a good mood. He rounded the corner. Great! No line to get in. Chaz whipped out his slightly muddy wallet as he ran. Cover, 2000 Yen. No problem. He pulled up to a halt at the door. The huge bouncer calmly looked him up and down. His eyes took in every detail of Chaz's attire.

"Ya can't come in," The bouncer finally announced.

Behind the bouncer Chaz saw Priss walking out on stage. '00:20,' the AI chimed.

"Why not?" Chaz asked as reasonably as he could.

The bouncer smirked. "No gaijin allowed tonight."

00:00. Chaz's eyes turned cold. "Wrong answer."

Priss heard a disturbance by the door. There he is! Just in time to save his neck! With a nod to her drummer Priss started her first set of the night. She looked closer as he ordered a drink. He looked like Hell! Had he been in an accident? She thought about it for a second. A smile broke across her face. I hope he made sure the other guy was okay. With that thought she turned her mind fully to her music.

"Fabulous Priss!" Chaz enthused as he pushed a drink towards her. "Just about the best I've ever seen!"

Priss took the drink and downed half. "Who's better?" she asked mildly.

Chaz shrugged. "No one I've heard in this century." He grinned. "Vision is pretty good though." Priss's face showed what she thought of THAT sentiment. He laughed at her sour expression.

Priss decided to ignore the ribbing, this time. "What happened to you?"

Chaz looked down at himself. "You mean torn clothing splattered with mud isn't in anymore? Damn! Now I'm going to have to change my whole wardrobe." He grinned impudently.

Priss wasn't buying any. "You look like you lost three rounds of five with a boomer! What the hell happened?"

Chaz pitched his voice so only Priss could hear. "Let's see. I ran from Sylia's to the canyon. Then, I jumped down into the canyon and landed in a small pool of water." He took a drag on his beer. "After that I had to run through a small muddy bog. When I reached the other side, I climbed to the top of the canyon. Where the local gang requesting 'contributions' met me. I reasoned that they weren't bad boys and let them off with a couple broken ribs each. I was running down the street when a drunk driver swerved and clipped me, knocking me through the door of a second car. Incidentally, if anyone asks I was nowhere near there." He'd left the driver in his car after he'd flipped it over. "Leaving that behind me I was forced to deal with the bouncer when I got here."

"Harry? What did Harry do?" Priss asked.

Chaz shrugged. "Tried to tell me gaijin weren't allowed. I didn't hurt him . . . much."

Priss sighed. "He meant it as a joke Chaz. No bar in Tokyo could make any money if they did that anymore. What did you do to him?" She closed her eyes. This couldn't get any worse.

"I gave him a rather interesting 2000 Yen wedgie," Chaz answered calmly.

Yes, it could. Priss looked up. "Chaz, I want you to apologize and explain to him before you leave tonight. Harry's a friend of mine."

Chaz finished his beer. "Sure. If I'd known he was joking, I wouldn't have done it. I still remember the way I was treated the last time I was in Japan that's all." He waved over his shoulder for the waitress. "You want another, Priss?"

Priss looked at the table. There were at least ten bottles sitting there not including hers. "You drank those in the past hour?"

"Yep. The alcohol and sugar are helping to recharge my energy stores. I really should eat something soon though." He shrugged. He wasn't really in danger of running out of power from that run, but he liked to keep it topped off.

Priss grabbed the remains of his shirt. "Well be a little more subtle about it." She looked carefully at him. No red in his eyes. No blurring of his voice. Heck! His breath was still sweet. "You aren't even feeling those are you?" she accused.

His face screwed up in a grimace. "Nope. And I'm finding out that without the alcohol beer really isn't worth drinking." He turned to the waitress stepping up behind him. "Yes, I'd like two Long-Island Iced Teas please. And could you please clear the bottles?" He smiled at the startled woman

When the waitress left. Priss leaned across the table. "Alcohol doesn't affect you at all?"

Chaz gave her a helpless look. "Why should it? It doesn't get anywhere near my brain and wouldn't affect it much if it did." He could act drunk if she wanted but what was the point?

Priss thought about that for a moment and then returned a grin that would have done Jack Nicholson proud. "The manager has a running bet. Once a night someone can challenge him to a drinking contest. Loser pays for the drinks. He's never lost."

Chaz thought about it then returned the grin. "He will tonight."

With her arm draped across his shoulder, Chaz helped Priss into her place. "Didja see hiss fashe," she slurred. Priss, he was discovering, was not a pretty drunk. After her final set Priss had settled in next to him in a side booth. She'd been right, Harry had been joking. After a giving Chaz a little ribbing Harry had decided he liked the 'scathing little guy.' Chaz had decided to take it as a compliment. He had also decided to take up Priss's challenge. The manager had really never had a chance. After Chaz had finished two bottles of Maker's Mark the manager had given up in a rather spectacular manner. Chaz felt kind of bad about that. Priss had said he'd deserved it. The evening had gone downhill from there. Priss had decided that since Chaz couldn't get drunk he was her designated driver. She than proceeded to get blitzed. Chaz had decided it was time to leave right after Priss had told her drummer that her new boyfriend was a sexaroid. The modern equivalent of the 'sex toy' joke. The drummer had laughed and Priss had laughed. Chaz had tried to chuckle. The ride home had been kind of interesting. Priss had called him boring when he said he didn't want to go piss on GENOM tower. All in all a very enlightening evening.

Chaz closed the door behind them. The bike was safe. Anyone trying anything tonight would find out he was a better alarm then anything installed could ever be, he grinned, and MUCH nastier.

Priss was half-asleep when he took her clothes off and put her under the cold shower to wash the smell of smoke off. There were benefits to being a boomer, Chaz decided. A human's ears would have been broken by that scream or their body severely wounded when she started flailing around.

Drying the last of the water from her still sleepily cursing body Chaz pulled up the coverlet and told his AI to wake him up at seven. He closed his eyes.

Priss woke up. And immediately regretted doing so. Had a boomer trashed her again? No. Even after that she usually didn't feel THIS bad. What had she done last night? Oh god. She'd gotten drunk again. Fighting her body every millimeter of the way, she pried open an eye. The world spun for a second and took form. Her place. So far so good. She reached out. Nobody in bed with her. Good or bad? Probably good. On the other hand, the smell wafting through the room was definitely good. COFFEE. Smelled like the real thing too. She carefully turned her head to avoid a spin that would splatter her brains against the wall. Somebody in a black T-shirt and jeans. Please. . .God. . .Not. . .Leon. Could she speak without causing her head to explode? Maybe. "Good Morning," she said with all the volume of a baby mouse having a bad dream.

Chaz turned from his cooking. He'd known she was awake since before she'd opened her eyes. You couldn't have missed the change in breathing. Priss snored. "Good morning Priss. Feel up for some breakfast?"

Priss scrambled from the bed and immediately headed for the bathroom. After the traditional Morning Prayer to the porcelain party god she stumbled back into the room. "You bastard," she attempted to snarl. The sound came out like a kitten's cry. A substantial step up from a few minutes ago.

Chaz smiled unrepentantly. "Nope. My parents were most definitely married. Besides you needed to do that." He waved the pot of caffinated fluid. "How about some coffee?"

"Quickly." She sat heavily on the floor next to the low table. The world was out to get her this morning she was sure of it. But she had a plan to outwit it. As soon as she had the ability, she was going to die. It would just take more energy than she had at the moment.

Chaz poured her a cup and sat down with his hot chocolate. After a few minutes he spoke. "How often do you do that?" he asked, carefully keeping his tone neutral.

Priss attempted a glare. It kind of sputtered. She gave it up as a bad job. "Not often. It depends on the stress I'm under. The past couple weeks have been a little hectic. I didn't mean to have THAT much fun though." She held her head. "I can't remember much of last night. What I do remember isn't pretty." She thought about it. "Please tell me I didn't get drunk before I finished my last set."

"You didn't. It was pretty close though. You'd had enough to keep you a little buzzed while you were on stage but you didn't miss a note or slur a syllable," Chaz assured her.

Priss let her head slip to the table in relief. "Great. At least my professional reputation is still secured." If she got a reputation as a drunk along with her Knight Sabers absences she'd NEVER get a gig. She breathed deeply to steady the throbbing in her head. "All right I'm ready. What did I do?"

Chaz gave her the highlights. "Oh. I almost forgot. There was a suit that came by earlier looking for you." He paused. "He said you still owed him money on your bike. I didn't hurt him. I didn't let him have the bike either." He paused. "Priss, he wasn't lying. I thought you owned that bike outright."

Priss shrugged. "I did. I borrowed some money against it to keep the band going. I was planning on using the money from that USSD job to pay it back." She shrugged. "You know how that turned out. The money from our gigs wasn't enough to pay off the instruments."

"So you paid them off using your bike as collateral," Chaz finished. "What about the money from our more recent jobs?" He had the feeling he knew.

"Just covered my bills. Unlike the rest of them, I'm not rich and I don't have a steady job." She turned away. "This is a company town. I pissed off GENOM before I even met Sylia. All I want to do is sing. I'm not much good at anything else legitimate."

Chaz moved to put his arm around her.

Priss moved away. "I don't want sympathy." She looked up eyes flashing. "What I'd kill for is a REAL chance at singing professionally."

Chaz's blood ran cold. He was pretty sure she'd meant it PRECISELY the way she'd said it. Another thought ran through his head. He knew someone who could give her what she wanted. But Priss wouldn't accept it as a gift. Her pride wouldn't let her do less than earn it. Maybe...

Priss looked up at Chaz, as he appeared lost in thought. How in the hell did I wind up with someone like him anyway? He was great in the sack and gave one of the best massages she'd ever had. But aside from that, he was everything her friends normally weren't. Too serious, quiet, rock-steady, semi-honest, smart . . . She shook her head, stopping quickly when it began to feel like it was going to detach itself. His normal face wasn't that handsome either. Oh, sure he could beat out anybody if he tried. But usually he didn't. Even when he knew it might get him in trouble, he kept his 'original' face. It wasn't the body either. He'd told her he'd never used the neural stimulator on her above the minimum constant setting. She'd gotten desensitized to the pheromones too. So what was it? She let it go for now. "How about that breakfast?"

Chaz walked down to Mackie's garage. Oddly timbered music was coming from back by the new hard-suit set up. Right where I thought he'd be, he confirmed. Walking quietly up behind Mackie, he looked over the teen's shoulder. I might have known. Mackie was running test patterns on the thrusters. The control signal was coming from a modified audio hookup. The result was that Mackie had a stereo system made out of thrusters. Chaz reached out and changed the gain on the signal.

Mackie was reaching out to turn off the amplifier when the sound died away. What the hell? He checked. Power's good. Signal's good. The amp. . was turned down. He looked around. Nobody. He turned back to the testing rack.

Chaz watched from the ceiling as Mackie spun around looking for someone. Any second now. Yup. Mackie was sitting nervously back down. Now. Chaz let go of the rebar he'd been holding and dropped behind Mackie, tapping the nervous teen on the shoulder as he landed. The effect was all he could have hoped for. Up to a point.

Mackie felt the tap on his shoulder and yelped. Grabbing the microdriver from the bench he spun and tried to slam it into Chaz's ribcage. With a blur of motion Chaz's hand intercepted the bit. Mackie let go of the driver and Chaz casually pulled the drilling bit out of his hand. Mackie started to stammer out an apology.

Chaz waved it off. "My fault. When you pull THAT sort of shit you have to be prepared for THAT sort of reaction." He inspected the skin on his hand. Good it seemed to be healing already. "I'm just glad it wasn't Linna or Priss. They wouldn't have been able to stop you. I hadn't expected that violent a reaction." He looked down at Mackie with respect. "You are FAST."

Mackie looked up to meet his gaze. "You think so?" he asked tentatively.

"Yeah. Real fast." Too fast. Linna didn't move like that. "Have you ever tested with the others?" He guessed the answer would be no.

Mackie shook his head. "Sis doesn't like me getting involved in that end of things." He shrugged helplessly. He was used to his overly protective sister.

Sylia. Now things were beginning to make sense. The only person Chaz knew beside himself with reflexes like that was Sylia. Dr. Stingray had, apparently, been a very good scientist. He ALWAYS had a backup plan. "Figures. Well let's forget about it for now. How about we install those thrusters?"

Installing and balancing the thrusters took the better part of three hours. When they were done Chaz stood back and looked at the hard-suit. "Why don't boomers use thrusters instead of those fuel-cell ram-jets?" he asked Mackie.

"Cost mainly." Mackie looked up from a calibration unit. "Those thrusters have to be built by a nano-tank. The tanks cost tens of trillions of Yen." He shrugged. "Ours are ordered from GENAROS through a complicated network. The same holds true for the Knight Sabers Black Box, except those we make ourselves. We only have a very small nano-tank." He held his hands up to indicate a small square box. "It's full time job is producing KSBB systems and thruster units. The KSBBs are tougher than the thruster units so we don't have to worry about them as much. The thrusters have to be replaced every time they take a major hit, even a micro-fracture in the substrate makes them useless." He turned back to the hard-suit rack. "If we had a full-sized system we wouldn't need to build these things by hand. Hell, they would be at LEAST twice as good."

Tens of trillions. Chaz had a hard time working with numbers like that. That Sylia had one at all was amazing. She must have traded her soul for it. "So why doesn't GENOM use them? If they're so good, I would think they would have several whatever the cost."

Mackie, still working, nodded. "They do. Trouble is nano-tanks are slow and DANGEROUS. If you try to speed them up they have heat and programming problems. So what you do is use the tanks to make the parts that HAVE to be made that way and build the rest the old fashioned way." He waved at the work in progress. "If I had to take a guess I would bet that a few of your systems were grown in a tank. Certainly the fusion plant and AI were and probably the X-ray lasers." He looked back. "Your body, in terms of construction costs, is probably worth more than all four Knight Sabers hard suits put together." He grinned. "If they had made all of it in a tank you might be able to kill a BU-12 without a hardsuit. The nanite repair system in your body is VERY primitive compared to what COULD be done. You should have seen the monster they had to face at Aqua-City. If that thing hadn't been taken out by the orbital lasers. ." He shuddered. "That sort of system is supposed to be outlawed. Luckily, the control interface is extremely vulnerable."

Chaz finished the adjustment to the hard-suit's actuator. "How large could that thing have gotten?" he asked as he ran a test current through the myomer.

Mackie started closing access panels to keep dust out. "It got larger than it should have been able to. It must have tapped into a power-line somewhere. It also was beginning to have some heat problems towards the end. So at that speed, depending on available power, maybe twice that size before meltdown. It would need several more Class-A boomer brains to be able to effectively control much more material. Luckily there weren't any at the site. THAT'S why nano-tanks are supposed to be kept in space. It's SAFER." He stood up after closing the last panel. "Now all we have to do is get the sensors and control systems from sis." He looked up at Chaz. "I hope you realize how slim your chances of doing that are." Sylia hated redesigning the suits and she wouldn't be happy with their new design until she'd checked every inch of the plans.

Chaz nodded. He hadn't intended on asking her. "Yeah. I know." He leaned his head towards the computer. "Can you give me a list of the components I'll need?" There MIGHT be another source for some of this and Nene could help with the programming.

Mackie gave him a sidelong look and let it go. "Sure." He grinned. "Going to try to get your arguments ready?" Fat Chance. Sis was almost impossible to argue with.

Chaz nodded. "Something like that." He grinned enigmatically.

Nene was excited. Friday was finally here! She had her brand new dress in her locker. All she had do after work was shower and change. Linna and Priss had helped her pick it out. Nene giggled to herself. She'd even bought the lingerie for it from Sylia's. From Mackie no less! She hadn't decided on whether he was going to see it or not. But still, the thought was thrilling! She looked up. Only two more hours!

Mackie stood in the garage, still reworking Chaz's suit. The actuators just didn't want to respond to the test system. He knew there was a broken linkage somewhere. Ah! There it is! Reaching in his hand found the connection and reattached it. There, now to retest it. He reached out to type the command.

Chaz's AI brought the time to his notice. Oh Yeah! He moved his hand to block Mackie's. "Time to break off for the day." He pushed the power on the test actuation system, and it shut down with an audible hum.

"Why?" Mackie asked. It was still early. If they worked through the night they might be able to get through the entire test cycle.

Chaz picked Mackie up and slung him over his shoulder. "Hate to do this. But if you've forgotten your date with Nene you have become FAR too wrapped up in that equipment." Ignoring Mackie's complaints about lost dignity, he walked upstairs.

Sylia was working in her office as a complaining Mackie was carried by. She looked up briefly into his pleading eyes. What's he done now? Shaking her head, she returned to her work. The profit margin from the lingerie chain was going to be slim this year. Maybe the engineering research company would do better. She hadn't received their books yet.

Chaz dumped Mackie in the bathroom. "Get showered, shampooed and shaved and out in five minutes or I'll come in after you." The door slammed shut.

Four minutes fifty seconds later Mackie came out wearing a towel. Chaz was finishing laying out his clothes.

"You WILL wear these," he said, pointing at the clothing.

Mackie looked. What was wrong with slacks and a shirt? Black suit pants? A French buttoned white shirt? Mackie frowned. He was pretty sure he didn't own clothes like this. "Where did you get this stuff?"

"Linna, Priss and I picked it out," Chaz replied. Well, Linna and Priss did anyway. He had the clothes sense and style of a dyslexic mule. Every outfit he owned had been bought under the supervising eye of one of his fellow female Knight Sabers. "Now put it on or you're going to be late." He looked Mackie in the eye. "And if you think I can be scary, try to IMAGINE how scary Nene would be if you didn't pick her up on time."

Mackie gulped. He'd seen Priss and Linna angry. The idea of that kind of fury being directed at him was not attractive. He hastily donned the clothes. When he was finished dressing, Chaz handed him a bouquet of roses and a small box of chocolates.

He gestured at the chocolates. "These are for her. If she offers one to you, bite it in half and put the other half in her mouth." Not that she's likely to offer the little hacker was a chocolate fiend. He placed a set of keys in Mackie's hand. "Linna rented a car for you. Wreck it and you deal with her."

Mackie was becoming overwhelmed. At least his sister hadn't been in on this! He grabbed the keys. "You have money I presume?" Came a familiar voice from behind. No not her too?

Chaz and Mackie turned around. Sylia stood there counting out bills. "Here, that should cover you for the night. I'll deduct it from your store wages." She stood next to Chaz and surveyed her brother critically. "What do you think?" she asked the grinning boomer.

Chaz gave a feral grin, growing hair across his face to complete the effect. "I think he MIGHT survive." Sylia elbowed his ribs. His face returned to normal. "Make sure she has a good time Mackie," came the more realistic advice. Mackie nodded and turned to go.

Sylia spoke up. "Mackie, you have a good time too." Mackie nodded again and left.

Chaz sat down on the sofa. "I feel like I've just sent a lamb off to the slaughter."

Sylia joined him. "Nene's not that bad. I'm sure he'll do fine." She turned to Chaz. "What about you? What are you doing this evening?"

Chaz looked downcast. "Not much. Priss is doing a gig on the other side of Tokyo tonight." He shrugged. "I had to make sure the boy wonder made it out on time." By the time he made it across town at this time of night, the concert would be over. Besides, with Priss, Nene and Mackie gone only he, Sylia and Linna were available if an emergency came up.

Sylia stood up. "Well then, you are welcome to have dinner with me." She smiled. "I'm cooking."

Chaz looked around Sylia's apartment with interest. There was something desperately wrong with this picture. Despite living in Knight Saber headquarters he'd never been in Sylia's private apartment before. He didn't know anyone but Mackie who had. It was pretty much what he'd seen in the anime. A few frills. But there was a feeling of almost . . . sterility he supposed. Sylia's cheerfulness seemed at odds with the whole room. It just didn't have the feeling of a room that was lived in. More like a very expensive hotel.

He looked over where his hostess was slowly mixing something on the stove. Then there was Sylia. Her attitude had started changing almost from the day he joined the Knight Sabers. At first she had seemed a little tepid, reserved. She had been almost as restrained as he had been in high school. Mentally he slapped himself. Give the woman a break, Chaz. She has almost single-handedly kept the worst of GENOM's excesses under control. The kind of determination to do that would make anyone seem a little cold. Sylia looked up from what she was doing for a moment and smiled. So why the change? Priss, Linna, Nene and even Mackie had said that she wasn't acting like normal. WHY? She likes me but she cares for everybody in the Knight Sabers. She DOESN'T love me. Even to me that's obvious. He shrugged. Trying to figure out what was going on in a mind as intelligent as Sylia's was like a monkey trying to figure out a computer. You get glimmers but that's about it.

Sylia came out of the kitchen. At some point she'd managed to change clothes. She was now dressed in a light tan pair of pants and a light blue silk top. Sylia waved at the served meal. "Bon Appetit. I especially recommend the sautéed beef." She seated herself on the opposite side of the table. "Wine?" She waved at the unopened bottle and frowned.

Chaz picked up the bottle. With a quick flick of his wrist he extended the vibro-wire claws and removed the top, cork and all. "Ladies first." He carefully poured her a glass. Reaching over, Sylia took the bottle and returned the favor.

"What shall we drink to?" Sylia smiled and raised her glass for a toast.

Chaz didn't return the smile. "How about honesty?"

The smile left Sylia's face, leaving no trace behind. "What do you mean by that?" Her voice wasn't so much cold, as it was devoid of emotion.

Chaz sipped at the wine as he tried to phrase what he needed to say diplomatically. "Sylia, you haven't got a domestic bone in your body." He waved at the dinner. "It's not that I don't appreciate the meal." He smiled and looked gently at her face. "Or the company." He shrugged. "You've only used that kitchen once or twice since it was put in. I can still smell the coating on the ceramic heating elements." He waved at the stove. "I also heard you opening your utensil drawers." He paused. "Other than what was necessary to make this," he gestured at the table, "you only had silverware. So what I mean is," his voice quieted, and he looked deep into her eyes, "why did you plan all this?"

Sylia was quiet for a long time. She nodded to herself. "I underestimated you. I'm not used to making mistakes like that." She paused as if adjusting a file somewhere. "I'm not likely to do it again." She sipped her wine. "You're right. I planned this. Not necessarily tonight, but some night you would be left here alone with me. Then I would cook this little meal and you and I would talk." She shrugged. "I had hoped to lead into things a little more gradually. You have been adjusting to your senses much quicker than I thought or the details wouldn't have been missing."

Chaz sipped his wine and nodded. "So what did you want to talk about?" He picked up his fork and started eating. Sylia stared at his hand. Chaz looked down. Nothing special. "What?"

"You used to be RIGHT handed. When. . ." She let the question hang.

Chaz shrugged. "Just now. I picked it up without thinking about it. It feels as natural as my right."

Sylia's head came down to her hand. "I really should have kept a closer eye on your progress. THAT would have tipped me off," she said disgustedly.

"Don't think I haven't noticed that you avoided the question." Chaz took a sip of wine. "The dinner is excellent by the way. You should try some."

Sylia reached down with her fork and began eating. "Why do you think I've asked you to dinner?" she asked cautiously.

Chaz smiled. "At first I flattered myself that you were interested in me."

Sylia choked.

Ignoring her discomposure he continued, "The more I thought about it the less likely that seemed." He raised his glass and watched the patterns the wine and candlelight made. "I'm not terribly handsome. My pheromones probably don't have much effect on you. And you consciously avoid my touch." Sylia flinched. She probably hadn't thought he'd noticed. "So I know that you're avoiding the neural stimulator. It's not my mind. I'm pretty intelligent but not in your class." He smiled depreciatedly. "I'm also the proud owner of one of the most abrasive personalities known to man." He shrugged. "With that out of the way, I have NO idea why you wanted to talk to me."

Sylia finished her glass of wine. "True. I don't have much romantic interest in you. As for your personality," she shrugged, "I put up with a lot worse from Priss. Yours isn't as bad as you think." She paused to finish the last of her meal. "What does interest me is your mind." She waved off his objections. "Yes I know. You aren't as intelligent as me or, for that matter, Mackie." Her blue eyes blazed into his. "But you are far more intelligent than you let on. You are also one of the few 'enhanced' people on this earth. Father's nanites have never, to my knowledge, been recreated. After he tested them he destroyed the designs and the information needed to make more. I think GENOM had enough to 'enhance' maybe four." She paused. "At least one of them went mad from the process. It was never supposed to be used on an adult."

Chaz thought about that. "So, how do you explain me?" Chaz asked quietly.

Sylia poured herself some more wine. "I can't. I think Mason is one of father's successes. The original nanites wouldn't have moved your neurons anywhere. They would have altered the cells in your brain gradually. I think Mason didn't want to wait. He wanted to see if nanite changed cells could be moved into an android body without killing them. So he used the guinea pig that was available."

"Me," Chaz whispered. The experiment. It all made sense now. Mason was to become Largo after all. He wanted to make sure at least one of his two processes worked first. In the back of his mind a memory surfaced. For the first time he could understand the conversation that had changed his life. "The doctor in charge said that he recommended engram replication instead of the nanite transfer because it caused less personality change."

Sylia sipped her wine before answering. "At first, that's true. The engram can be error checked the nanites couldn't. But because the original brain isn't being used, after a few months the personality warps to fit the new brain." She shook her head. "It seems to almost invariably cause insanity. With nanite transfer the brain changes a little at first, which disrupts the personality in the short term. But in the long term, if the person can come to grips with the change, the engram will adjust." She looked up from his face to his eyes. "Yours isn't likely to collapse. But it's still trying to get back to normal though. Your natural glandular systems weren't moved with your brain." She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Which is why we're having this conversation." She got up from the table and gestured towards the sitting area.

Chaz sat down opposite her, the coffee table between them. "What did you mean my personality is still adjusting? I feel fine." Despite his easy words he was VERY worried. If you aren't your personality what were you? If that changed didn't you?

"Just what I said. While your brain adjusts to the virtual glandular system the neurophages use, you'll tend to be more emotional and more impulsive than you used to be. After you adjust you should be pretty much the same person that you were before the change. It's the emotionality that causes most to lose their sanity." She paused. "When we first found out, do you remember how you reacted?"

He winced at the recollection. "Sure. How could I forget? I was crying all over the place." It had taken him a week just to get over the INITIAL reaction.

"Did you react like that to extreme stress before?" Sylia asked pointedly.

Chaz's head drooped a little as he thought about it. "No. No, I didn't." He usually bottled up pain like that and dealt with it later. He also usually didn't go out with women like Priss either. The thought was not a happy one.

Sylia reached out and poured herself another glass. "That acceptance is probably what kept you sane. If you'd fought it or denied it . . ." She didn't finish. She didn't have to.

Chaz swallowed the last of his wine and reached for the bottle. "So now what do we do? If I go back to the way I was before I wouldn't be much use to the Knight Sabers. Not to mention what it will do to my relationship with Priss." Chaz sighed. Things never seemed to get easier.

Sylia reached a hand out a little awkwardly to pat his. "Everybody changes. I think at the very worst you and Priss will still remain friends. But we strayed a bit. I wanted to talk to you about the Knight Sabers."

Chaz tried to relax and put his personal life on the back burner. Sylia made it look so easy. "What about it?" This was going to be interesting.

Sylia walked to the refrigerator and brought back a new bottle. Chaz opened it as easily as the first. "You know." He said conversationally. "That stuff has no effect on me. So if you're trying to get me drunk so you can have your way with me..."

For the second time that evening Sylia choked on her wine. When she could breathe again she glared at him. "I'm beginning to think you time those statements to do that on purpose."

Chaz smiled. "You'll never be able to prove it."

Sylia raised an eyebrow. "Never?" She laughed at his expression. "Mackie probably told you that a lot of what he's showing you hasn't been shown to anyone else." Chaz nodded. "Have you wondered why I'd trust you?"

Chaz nodded. "Yeah. Actually I have. You haven't known me very long. I would have thought you'd tell Professor Raven first."

Sylia inclined her head. "And what would happen if GENOM or some other organization got hold of him?" she asked in a quiet voice.

Chaz was very quiet as he thought about the implications of that question. Finally, in a whisper, he answered, "They would wring him dry. With enough drugs they could get him to tell everything." The light was beginning to dawn. "You and Mackie?"

Sylia didn't look up. "Not against our wills. Our pain threshold is higher than the amount our brains can withstand. Mind altering drugs produce a mild reaction at best. To really try to force us would destroy what anyone was looking for. We were the only ones I could trust to protect the information." She shrugged.

Chaz could see where this was leading. "But I can't be forced either; tricked maybe, coerced possibly, but not forced. THAT'S why you're trusting me."

Sylia nodded. "You can even let a program develop to keep you from doing it accidentally. Your AI would protect it even if someone tried to coerce you. Even Mackie and I can't do that." Her voice sounded deep and sad. "That's why Mackie's never allowed to go directly into a mission." Sylia explained. "I know I can't be forced or tricked. I can shut down my mind first. Mackie isn't old enough yet to have that much control. He could be tricked." She shrugged. "Maybe even coerced."

Chaz was amazed. No wonder she seemed so cold. If anyone got their hands on that technology and mass produced it. . . He shuddered. On a large scale nothing could stop it. "So why do you think you can trust me?" he asked gently.

Sylia looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Because I'm running out of choices. If I really want to keep GENOM in check I have to start spreading the knowledge somewhat. I've already given the idea for a second-generation boomer AI to a friend of my father's. It doesn't use the same biological pattern as GENOM's and thus doesn't fall under their patents. He should be able to fully develop it within a couple years."

"Dr. Haines," Chaz whispered.

Sylia was startled for a moment. "I tend to forget the future is an open book to you. It's so irrational my mind tries not to deal with it." She finished her wine and poured another. Her voice went very quiet. "I'm also getting tired of shouldering the burden alone." Her hands shook as she poured. "The worst part is: all I've managed to do is slow them down. I can't really stop them. Too much of the world depends on the GENOM Corporation. Getting rid of them would destroy too much of the world economy at this point." A single tear ran down her nose and splashed into her wine.

Chaz reached over gently pulled her wine away. "What do you want me to do Sylia?" he asked as softly as he could.

Sylia reached deep to get a stranglehold on her emotions. With one big sniff she once again seemed in complete control. The only trace was the single tear track away from her eye. "I want you to memorize everything; all of it. Memorize every detail of father's and my work. I'm going to erase it from the computer. The only copies will be in my, yours and Mackie's heads.

"What about the nanite tank?" That had to have the plans for at least the KSBB in it.

Sylia shook her head. "That's rigged to self-destruct if anyone tampers with it. Even Nene couldn't break the coding that locks it." She stood up and moved around to sit next to him.

Chaz cautiously turned to face her. "After I get through memorizing, then what?"

"If I die you step in to fill the gap," Sylia said as if the first part didn't matter. "That gives us a larger measure of security. With your connections to the Hou Bang you could continue where I left off." He didn't know whom she was trying to convince, herself or him. She moved closer. "Just..." Her eyes began to fill again.

Chaz looked into her deep blue yes. "Just?"

Sylia hugged his shoulder. "Keep Mackie safe!" With those words Sylia Stingray, the leader of the Knight Sabers, began to cry. She cried for a long time, the sobs of a strong will that has held back emotion for a very long time and has at last relaxed. She clung to him as a shipwrecked sailor clings to a plank to keep from going under. Chaz enfolded her gently, his arms providing what little shield he could give her from the world. He comforted her as she sobbed for her father, her mother, her brother and herself. He held her until she finally fell asleep. Lifting her easily, he bore her to bed and pulled the covers over her. He looked down at her. He knew tomorrow all the old shields would be back in place. But she would know. She wasn't alone anymore. He kissed her gently on the forehead and left, blowing out the candles as he went.

Chaz sat in his room playing with his computer. Damn! Shutting down the computer he got up and began to pace. He couldn't seem to find anything to do. Well, not anything that would hold his attention anyway. A sudden thought raced through his mind. Why not? Chaz walked downstairs to the hard-suit storage area and took down his suit. Usually it would require a machine to do it. Each one weighed quite a bit and was awkward as hell. Not a problem for him though. Moving it to a workstation he studied it. Sylia may be a genius, but. . . Gaah. . . The orange and white color scheme had to go. The hard-suit had been hastily worked up from stock components. Sylia said that she would design him a personal one when she had the time. Chaz shrugged. This one would do. He grinned. But the one in the hanger would do better. Taking down tools, Chaz set to work.

Mackie stumbled into the building. He wore a beatific grin on his face. Gods! What a night! Everything had gone perfectly. Everything. The dinner had been good and the movie excellent. He and Nene had danced until the disco closed. He'd even kissed her. He'd chickened out at the last minute though. When she'd asked him in for a drink he'd declined. She'd nodded and gave him a kiss that blew his mind. Still reeling, he'd driven home, her last words still repeating in his mind. 'Maybe next time.' He could still see her impish grin as she walked inside. He sighed. Wonder what time it is?

Chaz looked up from his work. Mackie had just passed him on the way to his bed cubby. Probably worried about waking Sylia if he goes upstairs. Chaz waited. Less than a minute later he could hear Mackie snoring. He chuckled. Looks like Nene wrung him dry. Chaz shrugged. He didn't have to sleep anymore if he didn't want to. His brain didn't get tired very often. But occasionally it was nice to dream. He went back to his work. Now how did Mackie say the interface for the thermograph went?

Mackie felt someone shake his shoulder. "Mackie." That was Nene's voice! In a panic he tried to remember. He definitely came home alone last night. "Mackie. Wake up." Still Nene's voice! Did she follow him home? Flipping over, Mackie opened his eyes . . . and screamed.

"That was hardly necessary," Chaz said in his own voice.

Mackie looked blearily around. "Where's Nene?"

Chaz's face altered momentarily to match the Knight Saber in question. "You mean me?" he said, matching the red head's voice. He resumed his normal face and voice. "I just thought you might respond better to her voice." Not to mention the look on your face was worth millions. "I'm sorry if I startled you." NOT!

Mackie looked Chaz dead in the eye. "Yeah. I'll just bet you are," he groaned. "What time is it anyway?" He looked around. Hmp. I must have fallen asleep in my clothes last night.

Chaz handed him a cup of coffee. "It's ten. You came in about eight hours ago." He grinned. "So how did the date go last night?" His face took on a 'tell me' look.

Mackie smiled. "Perfect. Couldn't have been better. She even expressed interest in doing it again sometime." If that kiss was any indication of what she expects, he had better make sure he ate a heavy meal next time. "Thanks for asking her for me."

Chaz stood up. "Not a problem. You'll have to ask her yourself next time though." He jerked the covers off Mackie. "Come help me with something will you?"

Mackie finished off his coffee. "Let me get changed and showered. I'll be out in a minute."

Chaz nodded and left.

Showered, shaved and changed, Mackie came out of the mini-bath ten minutes later. "What was so important you had to wake me up?" he growled in annoyance.

Chaz pitched the teen a thermos of coffee and nodded at the hard suit in its holder. "I wanted you to run a final test on the control systems. I used your design notes and diagrams for the hookup." He shrugged. "But they weren't very clear in places."

Mackie nodded and looked at the hard suit. The modular sockets for all of the systems had been closed and sealed. He picked up the fiber-optic connector. "Where did you get the parts?" The second he asked he knew the answer. "Oh no. You realize of course that sis is going to kill you?" It really wasn't a question. Chaz knew it. There was no way he couldn't know it. The question was would she blame him too? Mackie sighed and began running the diagnostics.

"Yeah. I know." The impudent grin on Chaz's face made it clear he considered it worth the risk.

Privately Mackie agreed. The hardsuits were nice but not really suited for a man. Not this suit though. This one had STYLE! Still wondering where Chaz got the design, Mackie tapped the keyboard and ran a full test on the system. The hard-suit on the rack twitched a couple times as the program checked myomer actuation. Then a non-standard subsystem came up. "Where the hell did you get this from?" Mackie said pointing.

Chaz leaned over. "That still has to be debugged." He shrugged. "I thought I'd ask Nene to do it."

Mackie started reading the report on it. "You realize what this thing could do to you if it severely fucks up? It's plugged right into your AI interface."

"Yeah I realize. It's also not likely to happen. There's an emergency cut off in that system and in my AI to stop it. Worst case scenario, I lose control of the hard-suit." He shrugged. If it happened to one of the others, they'd be dead. The suits were too heavy for them to move around in unpowered. He, on the other hand, could move with an unpowered suit on with almost no difficulty.

Mackie shook his head. "No. Worst-case scenario, the suit locks up. Even you'll have trouble if that happens. But it's your neck." He looked back at the diagnostic. "After Nene debugs it I'd like to take a look at it. By the way, not a bad job. Couple of crossed connections but nothing that's unfixable though." He laughed. "One that could have been embarrassing. You had your com-link wired so it wouldn't shut off." He laughed and typed a little. "I've changed the software to fix some of the connections. It's easier than reopening the system."

"So what do you think? Will the system hold together?" This was the important part as far as Chaz was concerned.

"Undoubtedly. Actually I'm amazed. You said you didn't do any high-end programming." Mackie turned to look at Chaz. His face went pale. "You didn't write this. Where the hell did you get it from?" The answer was as obvious as the question. "GENOM."

Chaz nodded. "It was one of the many programs sitting in storage in my AI. It allows a modified 33-S to interface directly with intelligent weapons systems. Some of the others are for breaking into databases, code-breaking, etc."

A low whistle poured from between the awed teen's lips. "Jesus. Has sis seen those yet?" Mackie asked. Those kinds of programs were extremely complex. They ATE processor power.

The denim-covered shoulders went up in a complex shrug. "Yeah. Her recommendation was to leave them down unless I needed them in a hurry." Actually, she'd said he'd be a moron to use any of them in anything but an emergency.

"So what about this one?" Mackie said, pointing to the screen.

"That's the only exception. It's hardwired into the AI. But the system is designed around it. It should make the hard-suit feel like my own body. No lag time on the controls. No problems with sensor input. Nothing." Truthfully, the whole system scared Chaz shitless. The idea wasn't a new one. It was the application that scared him. To use it he would have to let the system have direct access to his AI. That was like plugging a toaster into your brain. If he didn't trust Sylia's systems implicitly he wouldn't let a direct interface come within a mile of his cranium.

Mackie looked at him skeptically. "Yeah, I can believe that part of it. But you do know what happens if THAT screws up." He looked up to see Chaz nodding his head. "Just making sure. The software as it stands is fine. Once you tune it with Nene I would NEVER change it again. Nene is the only person I know whose programs NEVER have bugs." He disconnected the fiber-optic line. "The rest of the system is fine. You still need to get a couple of the special weapons pieces you wanted. Other than that she's ready to go."

Chaz's alarm went off. "Just in time, we're supposed to be at Professor Raven's in a little while." Chaz picked up the tarp and threw it over the hard-suit.

"I noticed you already installed the box." Mackie remarked as they walked out the door. "What are you going to do for a hard-suit if an emergency comes up?"

"Use that one."

Mackie whistled, "You like living dangerously don't you?"

Chaz walked into the testing center at Raven's and stopped. He'd seen the Knight Sabers in their soft suits before, but something was different. Now their smiles almost looked predatory. He attempted a smile. "Um . . . Hi. What's up?" His AI decided that he was feeling nervous and started to produce sweat. Chaz shut it off. If anything, their smiles had gotten broader. Sylia said not a word; she just motioned him into the simulator. What the hell is going on here? He looked around. Nothing new. He'd only been in the simulator once before. The holographic opponent hadn't even been a challenge. Oh, of course. He looked back out as Sylia began the program. She's changed the setup. I'm about to get my ass kicked. He could see it in their faces. He turned to face his opponent. Well, we will just see about that.

Sylia watched as the simulation began. Chaz really didn't have a chance. The adjustment to the simulator was a simple one. She'd measured his reflexes the last time he was here. She'd just turned up the speed to match. A normal human couldn't react as fast as he was need to. Even she and Mackie couldn't. Their brains were still partly organic and their muscles and bones were completely organic. Chaz tended to rely on his speed. He had almost no real skill at all. When you had that kind of speed you generally didn't need it. This time the speed wouldn't help as much.

Chaz was beginning to get annoyed. The simulator was moving like a cat on speed AND acid. It was taking his total concentration just to keep from getting hit. His objective was to hit any of the vulnerable points shown. He had perfect control of his body. It should have been easy. It was turning out to be infuriating. He'd been forced to kick off the shoes of his soft-suit within seconds. The soles couldn't take the stress. After the second time they'd ripped, he'd begun to realize how much trouble he was in. His mind still thought in term of human strength and speed levels. When he jumped he had to be careful not to hit his head on the ceiling. Normally he wouldn't be having this trouble. He would have been able to keep control of his strength. He dodged another holographic tentacle. Problem was he'd never had to make use of all of it before.

He cursed in a mixture of English and Japanese as he used the back wall to give him a forward boost. Twice he'd almost kicked through one of the walls when he used them as launching pads. When he speeded up even solid things became semi-fragile. Plus, he was running out of time. His chronometer said he had ten seconds left to hit a vulnerable spot or fail. Well, there was one thing he could try.

Linna, looked into the simulator. It was incredible. According to the simulator, he was doing what for him would be the equivalent of level six fighting. According to the smaller level indicator next to it, this would be her equivalent of level twelve. He was fighting better than humanly possible. Some of the statistics were frightening. His reaction time was less than half her own. He was performing leaps that Linna wouldn't have believed if she weren't watching. Even the razor dolls hadn't behaved like that. She looked down. The simulator had just rerated the simulation to level thirteen. She looked up in time to hear Chaz yell.

"Speedball!" Chaz braced himself. This was going to work. He didn't know whom he was trying to convince. He shoved with all his strength off the floor towards the closest wall. He caught his weight on his legs against the wall and rebounded for the opposite side of the room, hands flashing within a foot of the swiftly dodging holo-opponent. Flipping quickly, he again caught his weight and rebounded; this time to the sidewall. Bouncing off the unbreakable glass he flipped for the final time plunging past his confused holographic opponent.

Priss stepped back a pace from the glass as Chaz bounced off of it. Incredulity had been replaced with respect tinged with a bit of carefully suppressed fear. 'Why didn't GENOM build all of their attack boomers like this?' She asked herself as she watched his hands pass by the attack point. The holo was whirling madly in an effort to tag the human superball. Even to her untechnical eye she could see the strain on the computer. The normally solid image of the opponent was flickering as it tried desperately to update the image fast enough to catch its tormentor. Another bang echoed through the control room as Chaz bounced off the wall again. 'I've been sleeping with that?' Priss had always prided herself on her agility and speed. Linna had been good competition. She was better than Priss, but only just. Sylia was better than either of them, of course. But God! Chaz moved like gravity and he were only passing acquaintances. Priss had never been truly scared of someone she liked before. Than the less cynical part of her brain crept to the fore. It could be worse. He could be on the OTHER side.

Reaching out and extending his monowire claws Chaz sliced through the indicated spot. Gotcha! Less than a split second later reality caught up to him. Shit! He'd overextended and forgotten about the opposite wall. Flipping desperately, he backsmacked into the far wall. The wall, already tortured beyond endurance collapsed under him. He felt the familiar itch run down his spine. Damn. He'd done some damage to the skin back there from the feel of it.

Nene watched as Chaz tried to lever himself away from the wall. The look on his face as he'd hit was priceless. Nene began to giggle. Her shoulders and flaming red hair shaking with restrained mirth.

Priss stared. Right up until the end it had been so scary. It was like he was an unstoppable machine; then to end up like that. She couldn't help it. She raised her hand to her mouth and started to laugh. Maybe it wasn't such a good thing that he was on their side. Gasping, she got out one word. "Smooth."

Linna watched as Priss began to break out in hysterics. He'd just pulled off an incredible maneuver! Except for that end! Against her will, Linna joined in the laughter.

Sylia couldn't help it. The ending wasn't what finally got her. It was the trouble he was having getting out of the form-fitting dent in the wall. Sylia covered her face to block out the sight and began to laugh.

From the other side of the glass Chaz watched as his fellow Knight Sabers broke into laughter. He checked. There was only one left standing. "Mackie, buddy, pal, could you get me a crowbar?" His plea only served to reduce the others to helpless hysterics. Nene and Linna were on the floor grasping their stomachs and rolling. Sylia was falling out of her chair and gasping for breath. And Priss, his girlfriend for Christsake, was leaning on a wall pounding on it as she hooted. But he held onto hope. Mackie wasn't laughing at least. Mackie would help him. Chaz watched as the teen nodded and turned to get go get the requested tool. But as he left Chaz could see his shoulders shaking with laughter.

Mason had finished it. With this plan he could strike a double blow. USSD had been keeping it a secret that they had two heavy, combat class, search and destroy boomers on loan from GENAROS. Secret from most, but not from GENOM. All he had to do was set them free in the development zone. In one stroke he would be able to force the tenants in that area out, kill one of the Knight Sabers, show up Madigan, and further discredit USSD. He smiled. It was perfect. Done correctly no one would ever connect GENOM to the incident. He would have to be there to supervise, of course, but the risk was minimal. Liberating the boomers would be the easiest part. In the dimness of the planning room Mason began to laugh.