6. TRIAL AND ERROR
The thick metal door swung open into the darkness with a fluid ease. As my eyes slowly adjusted, myriad arrays of tiny lights began to emerge, some blinking rhythmically while others burned steadily in silent contrast. The artificially induced chill of the room swept over me as I stepped inside. A random pattern of soft electronic chirps met my ears, combining with the many grids of light to create the illusion of some sleeping machine, waiting patiently to be roused. With the flick of a switch, the machine was awakened from its slumber, and the room was awash in dim fluorescent light.
After closing the door and locking it behind me, I began the routine of checking the hardsuit power regulators. Power on-line, all monitoring systems initializing. Nice and quick too. That's good to see. Mackie seems to have locked down the energy leak. What would I do without him... Now, let's see how well they took their charges.
Doors... Where's the--? Ah. Open...
Stepping away from the main console, I entered the suit storage area where four white armored suits hung on metal hooks on the wall, ready and waiting. White. The color of purity. In some cultures, the color of good. And in others, the color of death.
Not that that meant anything in this case. It was the only color that had stood up to the temperature extremes tests. Final color schemes for the suits could wait until after the preliminary testing phase.
Ok, next step: inspect each of the suits using the onboard diagnostics center.
Display bezel initialization: Check.Display alignment:
Ok, Mackie said to wait for the cross-hairs to...
check.Comm Link:
Hello? Testing!
Check.Environmental status: 22.2 degrees Celsius.
O2 levels: Full.
Jet ports: ...check.
Damn those are loud! May have to work on that.
Armor integrity: 100.Weapon Configuration: Check. Currently unarmed and off-line.
SUIT SYSTEM STATUS: READY... GO SIS!
Mackie...
As I continued to inspect the suits, I actually began to feel a little nervous. My gaze shifted away from the lockers, and I took a long look around me. All the hours, all the work, all of this technology, all of the money spent... It was finally a reality. But would the suits work? Would they protect us from whatever they might throw at us? What would happen if the suits failed? What if someone was killed? This whole thing was starting to sound pretty crazy. I wonder what father would say if he could see me now.
Ok, stop it right now. We've done the homework. There was no turning back now. It was time for us to--
Hm, interesting. When did I start using "us" and "we" all the time?
All right, let's get started here. Everything looks go. The soft- suit relays are up and running, so let's see how the hard-suit--
A knock at the door... At this hour?
"Just a moment," I called out.
The door swung open. Doctor Raven stood in the doorway blinking. "Why is it so damn dark in here? Did Mackie forget to install the rest of the lights?"
I could not help but smile. "No, I asked him not to. Please Doctor, come in. I'm just about to try mine out."
Raven-hakase took a few tentative steps then shut the door behind him, mumbling something to himself about the darkness as he entered the room and looked over the console. As soon as his eyes had adjusted to the dim light, he looked at me studiously.
"So how does the softsuit feel?" he asked.
"Fine. I was worried that the wiring harness might be uncomfortable, but I can't feel the ribbon cables at all."
"Good."
"I'm glad you stopped by Professor. I think I'm going to need some help."
"Oh?" he replied. "Help with what? Are you going to test them now?"
"Yes. Well, just mine for now."
"Hmm. Did Mackie sort out that power leak yet?"
"Yes."
"Did he manage to isolate that overload in the main redundancy power relay for the weapon selection processor?"
"Yes."
"Hmmm."
While the Doctor continued to look over the console's readouts in the main room, I went back into the suit storage area and studied my own hard suit more carefully this time. For the initial testing phase, the suits would be without weapons. This was not an easy call to make, as the added weight would require further adjustments when the advanced testing took place later, but I did not want any accidents at this phase of the project. One step at a time. But each suit did have all of its environmental and communication systems up and running. Working out the bugs in those two areas would keep us busy enough until the weapon testing stage.
Now, let's see if all of my efforts to customize the suit to the wearer's dimensions were worth the trouble.
Reaching up, I lifted my suit off the hook that held it upright. Although I bore the full, dead weight of it for only a few moments, I realized then that I was going to have to either develop a better storage method or lighten the suits. Someone who was tired or injured, or simply not physically strong enough, would never be able to manage manipulating a hardsuit into the boarding position.
Once on the floor, the suit slowly slumped downward and folded out like an X, exposing the interior and allowing easy entry. I reached inside and placed my hand flat against the inner walls of the leg armor. Nice and cool. Well, the environment controls seemed to be working properly. With a short hop, I raised my right leg and then stepped down into the suit firmly. Raising my left leg, I adjusted my balance and attempted to step down, only to find that the suit was about to topple over. I instinctively reached back with my left hand and grasped for a hand-hold on the wall to steady my balance. My forward tumble abruptly halted, and I looked back to see what I had grabbed to stop my fall. In my hand was the right forearm of the hard suit next to me. I looked towards the console area to see Doctor Raven grinning at me knowingly.
"You see?" he said as he continued to smile. "Teamwork!"
I was too embarrassed to laugh.
After finally managing to get both legs into the suit, I pulled up on the handles at each side. I then leaned forward into the upper half of the suit and inserted my arms and hands. The suit's sensors immediately kicked into gear, and an array of latches, internal and external, made their connections automatically. I then leaned back again to complete the whole process, the latches at the sides and back of the suit securing themselves to the front with reassuring clicks. Hmm, it was snug all right, but it didn't feel too restrictive. I raised my arms experimentally a few times, then tested the flexibility of the leg armor. Even better range of motion than I'd estimated. Stepping away from the wall, I walked around the room a bit, getting a feel for the entire range of motion, and to adjust to the extra weight.
It was strangely exhilarating. The light pressure of the armor plating all around my body suddenly gave me a sensation of invincibility. Immediately I could sense that I had control over an incredible amount of power, as the various motion circuits reacted to my movements. As I continued to move around the room, Doctor Raven suggested I test the load bearing abilities of the suit. Eyeing a stack of large, empty packing crates that had given myself, Mackie, and Priss a short workout earlier in the day, I planted my feet in front of the nearest one and shoved hard towards the far wall. The sound of splintering wood filled the room as the crates disintegrated against the wall. Damn! This was incredib--
"Sylia... is that smoke!"
"What?"
I looked down frantically. "Where? Where do you see it!"
Everything happened so fast. Suddenly Doctor Raven was beside me, trying to help me get the suit off as a thin stream of smoke drifted lazily out of a vent at the top of my right thigh. I tried to remain calm, but the latch release switches in the handles were not responding. My hands scrambled over the exterior of the suit, trying to find the manual release for the latches that were holding me prisoner as the burning circuitry inside my suit began to radiate its heat inwards against my leg.
"The latches are stuck! Mackie! Get Mackie!"
Doctor Raven fumbled with the latches for a moment longer, then ran to the console intercom.
"Mackie! Get in here! NOW!"
The smoke was starting to get pretty serious, as was the heat against my leg. I coughed as I continued to struggle to free myself, but the latches were locked tight, and the release switches would not respond. Think Sylia, think...
I suddenly felt two hands grasp the release handles and shove upwards simultaneously. Hard. The suit collapsed downward around my legs, causing me to fall forward onto the floor. Instinctively, I closed my eyes and kicked out to push myself clear of the burning hardsuit.
"Grab the fire extinguisher, Doc! Hurry!"
Mackie's voice.
"It's okay, Sis. You're all right now."
I opened my eyes. Ten feet away, the white hardsuit lay on the ground, the lower half now engulfed in flames.
Damn.
As Mackie helped me to my feet, Doctor Raven reappeared with a fire extinguisher and quickly doused the fire, but the smoke continued to drift up into the ceiling long after the flames had died.
I stood for a long time, staring at the charred hardsuit, contemplating how close I came to getting seriously injured. A quick inspection of my right leg showed that I had escaped with a minor burn. Fire. I had thought of everything--ballistic impact tests, laser pulse absorption rates, even water immersion. But fire... how could I have overlooked something so simple?
"Mackie..."
He looked up at me as he wrestled with the first aid kit. "Yeah Sis?"
My hands were still trembling. "Thank you, little brother."
He said nothing. Just smiled.
Teamwork indeed, Raven-hakase.