Tailspin, page 19
I could also clearly see her ribcage, though she wasn’t skinny. It was just all so well-defined. Each part of her skeletal structure bent and flexed as she moved to show me what I was most interested in. Her TAP.
From the lowest part of her vertebra, which flashed TH10, I could see the metallic glint of the system so closely linked to her core.
Casey looked to Trevor, and she pulled her trousers down, exposing a little more, down to her L3 and her first lock-in point.
“May I?” I asked, looking at Trevor first.
“It’s my body,” she said waving a hand in front of me. “I don’t belong to him. He can handle it. Please be my guest.”
I went to touch her with my normal hand.
“No,” she said. “Use the other.”
“But—”
“Tech to tech,” she said. “You’ll see.”
I took a breath and reached out with my X24 instead. On contact, my X1 flared to life inside, and once again I saw things I knew I shouldn’t.
DP - Casey Forinno
TAP - X2/10 *X Two-Ten*
Tier: Three - Nodes 14 to 20
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Slot Cost: 18 - Credit Cost: 39,999
I then counted upwards, noting with a little heat to my cheeks the lace of her bra. I knew there were only so many levels of progression for the TAP itself, for nodes.
This was superb high-end tech.
Casey had the ten branches, but only fourteen nodes shimmered—meaning active, I could only presume—and they spread out from her designated vertebra like branches. Each branch ended in a circular locator I knew would also connect to the hub, but it wasn’t in a helo?
“I have so many questions,” I said. “You didn’t take piloting the helo. Why?”
Casey turned to face me and slipped her shirt back on. “I’m a drone pilot, flying drones out with the helo. I don’t want to overwhelm you.”
I nodded yes, overwhelmed. “Thank you,” I said. “Seriously. I’ve never seen one in person. It’s truly amazing.”
“We’ll take a small walk to the next hangar over. We’re not far from each other for a reason. Sector One and Sector Two need to be because we’re sent out together quite often.”
“I’m guessing this is secret top-level stuff,” I said as we walked. There were obvious guards at every level. What shocked me more, though, was that they were not armed. But they looked like they could take you down without any weapons.
“Yes,” Casey said. “Sector One houses four teams, they have the most flying hours, and the highest qualifications and, fuck me, the fittest guys you’ve ever seen in your life.”
“Hey,” Trevor said. “That’s rude.”
Casey bumped into him. “You know that’s not what I meant.”
The way he side-eyed me and winked. Were these two a couple? They couldn’t be; they were military. Trevor walked straight to the guard unit at the front of the next hangar. He talked softly with them for a minute, then they stepped aside. Trevor smiled and opened the door for us. “This cost me a good bottle of whiskey,” he said and glared at Casey.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, I’ll get you another one. But this was your mention and not just my idea.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
We stepped into the hangar, and there were people everywhere. Tech stations and, holy crap, weapons stations. Fueling tanks were at the back end, with pumps that came out right at the tail end of two helicopters.
I swallowed. “What is that?”
“That,” Trevor said, “is the most expensive helo pair on the whole base. The DH 1 and 2. Belonging to the Angry Rhinos.”
“They say they’re over a billion credits each,” Casey said. My knees gave way, and she caught me. “Whoa there, no need for that,” she said.
We moved in closer, and I caught the signage on the helos’ doors. Two sets of forked lightning raced down each helo’s side, one red and one blue. Then painted in the middle of the helo was what looked like a bird.
“The bird is a loretta. They’re an ancient species that dominate the land and water around here.”
“So pretty,” I added.
“Yes, they are. The birds, too.” Trevor winked at me.
“Why’s the belly larger than all other helos?” I asked.
“Now that’s the right question,” Casey said. She moved to the side of one, and with the touch of a button, the side of the helo shimmered, and we could see inside it. “The invisible wall is so anyone with the codes can see the drones. These are why the bellies are bigger. The DH 1 has sixteen, fully capable and fighting-fit DX217s nestled inside of her. The fastest and, sadly, the most expensive drones they own.”
“What does a drone pilot do, then?”
“You mean apart from piloting those bad boys?”
“All of them?” I asked, suddenly seeing the mammoth task ahead of me.
Casey nodded. “Yes, the DP locks into the helo. That alone aids the pilot because they see and feel everything the helo does. Then they link with the drones and pilot them off the ship to target, destroy, help, or fetch anything they are tasked to do.”
Her words spun in my head. “Sixteen drones.”
That was why Trevor said I was suited for DP. I had split my concentration in two different directions at once. Targeting both my guns to the skellies without being asked and without any instruction on how. The strangest thing for me was that the gunners had followed my orders without question. They trusted my tech, and me, without even knowing me.
“What are you thinking?” Trevor said.
“I’d like to think you’re right,” I whispered. “But what do I need to do to be that guy?”
“Training for the DH 1 doesn’t come up very often—maybe five times in a lifetime. The pilots burn out fast, and they’ve been working harder and harder as more and more creatures from outside the walls keep trying to get inside.”
“You think I have a chance, right?”
“Yes, I really do,” Trevor said.
“Can I see closer?”
“Give me a moment,” he said. He walked off towards one of the tech stations and two women who were walking around outside the helo.
22
While Trevor was busy talking to the tech, silence stretched between Casey and I. So I threw out a basic question. “How many drones do you pilot?”
“I can push to ten,” she answered and let out a sigh. “But not for long. Six I can manage for hours, eight for a few, but ten has to be for something quick, in and out.”
“Yet you have the fourteen nodes? Sounds hard.”
“I need to learn a lot more before I activate the other. Rusty, it is hard. You’ll be split into as many as you can manage and control without putting them or yourself in danger.”
I swallowed. “You like it though, right?”
“Like it?” Her face kinda bobbed side to side and up and down. “Like it is a strong set of words. It’s not nice to see what we do. But to be able to do it for them, for my friends, for all of us, there’s no better feeling at all.”
Trevor returned, interrupting us. “There goes another bottle of whisky.”
“I owe you for that one.”
Trevor laughed. “Hell, if this interests you, I think Michaels owes it to me.”
“I’m interested.”
The bottom of the helo moved and then clunked. We were escorted by one of the techs up to see the drones, and I had to consciously close my mouth.
The other two stopped at the ramp. I moved with the other tech. She squatted down, flaring her white coat out behind her before the first drone, and I copied her though my legs complained. “Each one of these is worth a million credits.”
It was a warning. Don’t touch. But I wanted to touch even more.
On the inside of my mind, something tingled; my X1 was trying to reach over. I could see my tech and the nites in my body flooding down my arm to my fingers. They wanted out. They wanted…
“These are fully loaded.” The tech carried on talking, but I couldn’t listen. I could do nothing but watch the view I had of my nites pouring off me. Then trailing forward to that drone.
I couldn’t talk. There was something stopping me, keeping my vocal cords frozen.
The drone suddenly lit up. My nites stopped filtering to it and were met instead in the middle with nites from it.
“What’s going on?”
I still couldn’t talk. She reached to her side, and I saw her scan the area with the drone and me.
“Holy shit,” she said. “What are you doing? Stop it. Stop it now!”
But I couldn’t. They were talking.
And we could both see they were talking.
My nites turned around and left, traipsing up my arm, then dissipated through my body.
I collapsed, and the tech reached for me. “What was that?”
“I don’t know. A conversation.”
“I’ve never seen them do that. Who are you again?”
“Airman Korolyov,” I said. “Nice to meet you.”
“They’ve never acted like that and you’re a private? What tech?”
“X1 and X24,” I reported.
“No.” She shook her head and sat on her haunches, her eyes roamed me up and down. “You are no X1 or X24.”
Her critical analysis of me made me blush. “That’s what they told me,” I replied. “That’s what it says on my information.”
“Give me your wrist,” she said. “I’ll tell you what you have.”
“You won—”
“What, tell anyone else?”
I nodded, but I held my hand out for her. She put her device to it, and then her own wrist. She went quiet for a moment, and then her device turned green.
Access Granted
Her eyes widened, and her forehead crinkled. She read over her screen for more than a minute, her face paled, and the screen flashed up red.
Access Denied
“Kid.” She shook his head at me. “I couldn’t tell anyone if I wanted to. What you have inside you is at a level of security I’ve never seen before.”
I let that information sink in, and I looked back to the drones, trying to change the conversation as he just stared at me. “They’re amazing.”
“Yes, they are,” she agreed, yet was still staring at me. “Top of their class. The DP that runs these is also top of their class.”
“Who is he?” I asked.
“Captain—” The tech jumped; had she been chastised? “Classified,” she added with a sigh. Yep, she’d been reprimanded.
“I’d like to meet him one day,” I said, and I meant it. I really did. I pushed myself up. “But not today. I’ve taken too much of your time already. Thank you so much.”
“My pleasure, airman. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again. Likely very soon.”
I held my hand out and shook hers. “I look forward to it. I’ve still got a lot to learn yet.”
“Then learn fast,” she said. “You’re going to need it, all of it.”
“What’s your name?” I asked. “I’ll look for you if I come back.”
She beamed then. “No one ever asks. Head DP Engineer, Elias Garcia.”
I wanted to ask what I actually had inside of me. But any more information and I was sure I’d leak it to someone myself.
“Go,” she said and waved me off the deck. I moved over to stand with Casey and Trevor then.
“Fun?” Casey asked.
“Very. Thank you.”
Trevor slapped me on the back. “Was I right?”
“Yes,” I said. “Drone pilot, it will be.”
“Knew it.” He grinned. “Now I’ll get to collect my prize off the others.”
“Don’t tell me,” Casey said. “Whiskey?”
We laughed, and he could only shrug. They took me on a very quick tour of their helicopter and area on the base. It was nowhere near as fancy or high tech as Sector One, but it was also something to strive for. Something amazing here lit my soul on fire.
I wanted this—all of this—more than anything in the world.
While I was eating with the Bears in their mess, Niko’s call came in. I moved away, leaving the team and the table.
When I reached the other side of the room, I answered him. “What the fuck are you doing in Sector Two?”
“Nice to talk to you, too.”
“I mean it, Rusty. They’re some serious guys over there. What…how?”
“Am I even allowed to talk to you about it?”
“You said you wanted to talk, so I’m here,” he replied. “But I don’t know. You’ve technically got no clearance issued to you at all, or any restrictions yet.”
“First flight,” I said. The words rushed out of me. “It was supposed to be just a tour. We got called to a look at a station with smoke. It went badly. A pack of skellies hit, and the Chief, he’s…he’s in surgery. The Black Bears came in as backup, well, rescue, to be fair.”
“Chief Kuri?” he asked, but there was something off with his voice.
“Yeah,” I said and felt instantly bad. “He’s due out of surgery any minute.”
“He’s okay?”
“I saved his life, apparently. Though, I think I fumbled a lot of what I did.”
“Don’t knock yourself down. Shit, Rusty, that’s insane. I wish I could come see you.”
“Can’t break out tonight?”
“Err, I’ll get my hide thrown out if I went anywhere near Sector Two.”
“What sector are you in?” I asked.
“There’s four sectors. I’m Sector Three, and you’ll be Sector Four when you come in as a trainee or newb or whatever you want to be called. Man, I’d kill to be in your place right now.”
“I wish you were; you have much more training than me. You’d talk to them so much better.”
I saw Trevor and Casey eyeing me. “I gotta go,” I said. “Thanks for the call. I really appreciate it.”
“Anytime. You bet I’m gonna have a thousand more questions when you land here for real.”
“I bet; I have a million myself.”
I hung the call up and returned to the table. Listening to these amazing, highly trained people was indeed the highlight of the day. A moment later, Trevor stood and took a call himself. We all waited for news on Kuri.
This was taking too long. My stomach churned. What if?
Trevor listened some more, then spoke softly. I tried to lipread, but he kept pacing the room. Casey put her arm next to mine. She didn’t touch me, but that tiny little thought made me look at her and I saw worry, too.
I couldn’t breathe.
Trevor glanced at me. His face never gave anything away, and I needed to see something, anything. What the hell was…
The next thing I knew, Trevor was standing in front of us all, and the whole team quieted down.
He swallowed and his eyes met mine, there were tears there. “Chief Warrant Officer Easton Kuri died in surgery.” He dropped his head and his shoulders. His voice broke and so did my heart. “His injuries were too severe, and the skellies’ poison had infected his major organelles. There was nothing else they could do.”
My much-needed dinner rose up my throat. The chair clattered behind me, and I rushed for the door.
Outside I heaved and heaved till there was nothing left inside me. Sweat and tears streamed down my face. It was my fault, all of it. I wasn’t good enough. I shouldn’t have been there. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I slammed my fist into concrete, not caring about the tech or me. I needed pain.
Waves of nausea and pain spread through me, and my head pounded. I tried to stem it, but I couldn’t, and it made me double over even farther.
Someone knelt next to me. I expected it to be Casey, but it was one of the other guys. “Rusty,” he said, his voice low. “I’m Joe, the team’s senior medic. Come sit with me.”
I looked up at him, caught the lines to his eyes, the pain inside his face obvious too. I wiped my mouth, hoping they had bots here to clean up my recently eaten dinner, and I stood to follow him to a side bench.
He handed me a bottle of water, and I took a swig. “I know how young you are, that you haven’t had a lot of experience, and this was your first day out.”
I didn’t have any words, so I just nodded slowly.
“Tough day,” he said. He nodded to my hand and held out his for me to take. I held it out to him, bloody knuckles and all. “We’ve got to see the CO in an hour, but I want to talk to you now. Casey wanted to come out right away, but I think you needed this—from my experience, not hers.”
“Don’t tell me to suck it up,” I said. He pulled wipes out of a pocket, and some cleaning gel to rub over my skin. It was like all of my hopes and my dreams. Everything had been built up, then taken away from me in seconds.
I couldn’t do this.
“I won’t,” he said. “Listen to me.”
