Hourly Challenge: Indoors

a/n: A few days before the previous stories, Alexa and Doug tested Spidey the OctoSkell in the comfort of the Outfitters' Hangar. Which is indoors, so this counts.

All the good things besides Spidey belong to Monolith Soft.

(Three days earlier)

Alexa was chewing thoughtfully on a knuckle as Doug wriggled in the restraints. "Right, gotta note that down. Chest restraints need to be sized up."

"I'm going to strangle if I finish snapping these up," Doug stated finally. He dropped the buckles in defeat. "You want me to complete the tests without them?"

"No way. Lemme go get an extender. There should be one in the ..." Her voice cut off as she shot through the door of the Outfitters' Hangar, leaving Doug half installed in a brand new prototype skell. Crazy looking thing, less than half the size of even the smallest skell model, with extra limbs in every direction and a disturbing lack of weaponry. It looked like a toy and he'd have dismissed it instantly if anyone less than Alexa hadn't been so enthusiastic about it. Not that Alexa couldn't get enthusiastic about improbable skells; he'd listened to her gush about pipe dreams over lunch enough times. When she tagged him in to test one of them, however, that usually meant the thing deserved some respect.

Doug tested the controls gently, not enough to engage anything, but to reinforce his familiarity with them. Main set of legs controlled by his legs, same as standard, main set of "arms" controlled by hand controls, same, the remaining sets of limbs echoing their movements automatically, with the option to control separately with proper input. The hand controls had additional buttons for other indeterminate purposes, whch made Doug hopeful that maybe they'd slap some weaponry on this critter. It was fine to tell him the skell was intended for non-combat tasks, but there wasn't a team that went out of NLA that wasn't likely to have to shoot something before they had their dinner.

Alexa returned before he got bored, a belt flapping in her hands. Several of them, bless her. The seat belt had just managed to go around his waist, but it dug into his hip if he twisted even slightly. She must have noticed without his needing to tell her.

As she clicked snaps and checked security, he complained gently, "Did the Ma-non design the seat?"

"Naw, but most of the testers have been on the tiny side. Obvious oversight, sorry about that." She grinned at him. "It's not like we're pitching this at your division."

"What's wrong with Harriers?"

"If we were aiming at you guys, we'd plan for ... er ... beefier pilots." She slammed the pilot capsule window shut for him and gave him a thumbs up. "Remember to move slower. I'm not sure how your mass is going to change things."

Doug maneuvered the skell through the first trials, a simple obstacle course of heavy truck tires, raised netting, and minor inclines. The skell was responsive, although he wasn't sure a less-sanguine pilot would be okay with the jolting bounce the skell frequently made as it adjusted itself along the way. One of the legs got tangled in the netting, and he had a chance to use the individual motion controls for each leg to escape the trap carefully. The trial lasted all of five minutes and he reported his thoughts to Alexa.

Alexa noted it all down. "Got it, mmhm, right, skell sickness is always an issue. I'll see if they can increase the gyro shock absorbers."

Doug took a last gulp of fresh air and snuggled back into the skell. Next trials were vertical, and he now he was going slower. Climbing the sample stairs was simple, almost fluid. The ladder-like frame was similarly easy, the tips of the legs/arms shifting to a more hand-like grip. The woven netting was almost impossible for him to manage, however. Left to its own devices, the skell started to wrap itself snugly in the cables. Doug spread each leg at increasing distances, trying for stability, until the skell resembled the inner spokes of a wheel.

"Give it up, Doug," Alex told him through the comm device. "No one's managed it yet. I was hoping you'd bring 'em all to shame, but no such luck." She hopped into a waiting industrial skell and plucked the prototype, with Doug inside, off of the webbing. As soon as the smaller skell was released, the limbs automatically snapped close to the body, almost protectively, until Alexa had set it gently on the hangar floor

It was a full hour before he was finished with the vertical portion of the testing, and a further hour was required for the simplified challenges set on the ceiling of the hangar. Alexa seemed satisfied with the run, although she got in a few more cracks about Doug's extra massive build.

"You can jump out now, Dougy. I know you're dying to shake some circulation into your legs."

"Yeah, sure," Doug said distractedly, flexing the upper legs once more for luck. "Hey, Alexa. These buttons for the arms, you have a plan for them?"

"You have a suggestion? Last I heard, they're going to be for getting the hands to manipulate probe placement."

"So you could pop something on them, right?"

"Sure, I guess. Let the vacuum pads hold onto a tool you need. The suction would be strong enough to shovel or pound pretty hard."

"Or maybe swing a sword?"

"The prototype's too small to hold even the Level 20 baby skell gear."

"What about ground weapons?"

Alexa's bright eyes sparkled and she covered a wicked smile with her hand. "Not sure if I can rig up a way for you to light up a beam sabre, Dougy. Least not at a moment's notice. You might have to settle for my javelin."

"Or I could manage a long sword. Or three."

Her laugh was loud and low. "Lemme see what we have lying around."

a/n: You know how I said to be grateful I didn't totally geek out about Spidey's specs two stories ago? Sorry about that. I'm not quite done, but it will depend on next week's prompt.