Transcendent (9781311909442) (24 page)

Lily’s voice faded as she pressed the button
on the side of her helmet that told the helmet to connect the cable
to her implant. Her entire body stiffened as it felt like
electricity was coursing through her veins and making her tingle
all over. Then it burst through her and left her breathless and so
completely relaxed she couldn’t feel her fingers or toes.

Colors flashed in her vision that didn’t
make sense until she focused on them. There on the right of her
field of view, she could see a number. It read zero point zero kph.
It was her speed! She focused on the other flickers and read off
status screens of her biomech’s systems. Fuel cell capacity, charge
rate, local sensors, ammunition levels, damage indicators, solid
propellant, and other gauges and screens were available.

After an eternity of time spent examining
the screens and quickly practicing which was where and how she
could find them when she needed them, Lily remembered her voice.
“Myrmidon Delta-two-seven, establish new private designation.”

“Awaiting designation, Captain.”

“Sunshine.”

“Private designation Sunshine confirmed,
Captain. Thank you.”

Lily felt like she was grinning. She didn’t
know if her face was smiling or not, but she hoped so. Now she
could speak to her biomech and call it Sunshine instead of Myrmidon
Delta-two-seven. It was a trick her trainers had recommended to
speed up the process and make the biomech more personal to her.
Scoping it to a private designation meant her biomech wouldn’t
respond to anyone else using the term, nor would it refer to itself
as that way in any reports or communications to anyone else.

“All systems optimal, Captain. Ammunition
levels maximized. Would you like to load and charge weapons?”

“Confirmed, Sunshine,” Lily said. “Load
weapon systems but do not arm.”

“Acknowledged. Loading weapon systems.”

Lily faintly heard the whirring of machinery
as her shoulder launchers cycled their first of four volley of
rockets into the tubes. She checked and saw that her primary
weapon, the eighty-mm electromagnetic rifle in Sunshine’s right
hand, charged its coils up so it was ready to fire. A moment later,
the magnetic feed link from the railgun to the biomech’s ammo bin
flashed green.

“Sunshine, open control comms.”

“Acknowledged. Control comm circuit
activated.”

“Command, this is Captain Lily Evans, of
Omega Platoon. Reporting systems green.”

A man’s voice responded after a second.
“Confirmed, Captain Strain. How’s your new ride?”

“She’s beautiful,” Lily answered. “Please
pass my thanks to the technicians who were able to rig up the
railgun instead of the standard rifle.”

“I’ll do that, Captain. Good luck. Stand by
for launch orders.”

“Confirmed.”

“Captain Strain?” Sunshine’s voice
asked.

“Sunshine?” Lily asked, surprised not only
at the tone and familiarity of the biomech’s voice, but that it had
spoken to her without her initiating it.

“Correct, Captain,” the biomech said. “In
addition to my self-learning artificial intelligence system, I have
been programmed with extensive algorithms to interface with green
pilots, allowing me to predict certain events and to take actions
when within established probability thresholds.”

“I didn’t know that,” Lily said with a
frown. “This had better not interfere with my ability to
pilot.”

“Only in near-fatal situations when an
alternative is available,” Sunshine said.

“So you’re telling me this now to forewarn
me?”

“Negative, Captain. Part of the programming
requires I make suggestions to aid and enhance your piloting
abilities.”

“Okay, um,” Lily paused and realized that
this unexpected ability of her biomech could prove very handy. Or
potentially distracting. “Thank you, Sunshine. Can I disable this
at any time?”

“Yes, you may.”

“Good. Sunshine, open Omega Platoon comm
channel.”

“Channel open, Captain.”

“Sunshine,” Lily said, knowing that
prefacing any statement with the biomech’s designation would keep
her words private. “Please proceed with informal privacy
settings.”

“Acknowledged.”

Lily wondered if she was smiling again. She
felt giddy. “Omega Platoon, report status.”

“Hawkins, ready to engage.” First Lieutenant
Alex Hawkins was the first to reply. He was in her platoon
juggernaut class biomech.

“Blain, ready to engage,” her scout, Second
Lieutenant Kray Blain followed.

“My ammo feed is jammed,” Second Lieutenant
Ela Case growled into her ear. “Wait, it’s cleared now. These
things are amazing!”

Lily fought to keep her laugh out of her
voice as she asked, “Lieutenant Case, is your dreadnaught
ready?”

“Sorry, ma’am,” Ela responded immediately.
“Ready to engage.”

A touch of laughter tinged the final member
of Lily’s platoon to report in. “Brief, ready to engage.”

Lily smiled at Jessa’s tone. She was in a
myrmidon, like Sunshine, except Jessa hadn’t earned enough points
and goodwill in training to swap out the standard seventy-five-mm
rifle for something better. Her people were good; they’d been
training together for the better part of a year now. She was the
youngest, but she was also the best pilot in the group. She’d won
their respect in the simulators and consistently scored at or above
the top of every test to earn herself a commission to platoon
leader. Now she had to keep her head out of the clouds and keep it!
Fortunately for her, on Venus the clouds were few and far
between.

“Stand by, Omega, deployment light is still
red. Keep your heads up and remember this is for keeps this
time.”

A chorus of verbal salutes and encouragement
followed. Lily smiled to herself. “Sunshine, suspend Omega comms to
audible only.”

“Acknowledged,” the biomech responded.

Lily rested silently in the biomech,
familiarizing herself with the displays and controls again. She was
barely into her second pass when Sunshine announced an incoming
control circuit message.

“All platoons, you are cleared to debark.
Good luck, pilots.” The message came at the same time the clamps
holding the biomechs in place in the ship’s hanger released.

“Sunshine, for Omega comms: Green light to
debark!”

Lily knew her message was relayed when she
saw the biomechs under her command begin to move out. Her heart
leapt into her chest as she took her first step and felt the power
of the massive organic muscles that powered her twenty-five ton
robot beneath her. She didn’t just feel it move; she felt the
muscles contracting and picking up the armored leg through her
implant. It took her breath away.

Lily struggled to regain control of herself.
It really was like nothing she’d ever imagined! The sims were a 2D
video game compared to piloting a real biomech. She felt a shiver
run through her body—her real body. It was a welcome relief from
the growing warmth in the padded cocoon that protected her.

The deployment from the hanger to the field
outside of the starship was a success: only two of her biomechs ran
into each other. Two other platoons ended up in heaps of fallen
robots, leaving her men and women chuckling and offering snide
comments on their private comm circuit. Lily agreed with them, but
she kept her thoughts to herself. They had a long walk ahead of
them from the starport and she was beginning to realize her biomech
did lack one thing: decent cooling in the cockpit!

“Will you just sign the damn contract?”

A laugh burst out of Krys’s mouth before he
could stop himself.

“This is funny to you?” Shelby spat.

“No! I—you just—”

“I’ve risked my career to make you a
citizen!” she fumed. “I’m doing it again to help your renegade
friends! I’ve done everything for you and have plans for us! I’m
not going to be stuck running an ag colony the rest of my
life!”

“Whoa,” Krys said. He held up his hands.
“First off, I laughed because you swore. Normally you’re jumping on
other people for using that kind of language.”

Shelby clamped her mouth shut for a moment
and then nodded. “You’re right,” she admitted. “But you’re so damn
frustrating! Why won’t you sign a contract with me?”

Krys sighed. “I never said I wouldn’t.”

“Then why don’t you? You can move in with
me. It’s a bigger residence. At least until we get out of here. Is
it because we’ve never, um, been together?”

“No!” Krys blurted as the heat rushed to his
face. “That’s not it.”

“Krys, it’s okay if that’s it. If you’re
scared, we can wait. I have enough space you could have your own
room. Look, believe it or not, but I’ve never done that either. I
want you to be my first, though.”

Krys stared at her and shook his head.
“You’re ol—I mean, you’ve been all over and done so much.”

“I’m old?” Shelby asked with a laugh. “Then
maybe you should respect your elders? Appreciate my experience and
know that I’m trying to help you down the right path?”

“I didn’t mean that. You’re not old,” he
protested. “I just meant that you’ve been through all your
schooling and isn’t there officer training and all that? I just
can’t believe you never had somebody special before me.”

Shelby’s face froze for a moment. She licked
her lips and turned away. “I’ve always been working. Always been
focused. That’s what I was taught.”

“So what changed?”

She stared at him and then shook her head
and looked away. “I just want us to be together. Why do you have to
analyze everything?”

Krys shrugged. “I like you. I want to know
more about you. See what makes you tick.”

“Tick?”

“Yeah, you know, like an old-fashioned
watch?”

She blinked. “Um, no.”

Krys sighed.

Shelby’s eyes softened as she smiled and
said, “You’re too young to be so old.”

“My mom told me I had an old soul,” he
admitted.

Shelby stiffened for a couple of seconds.
When she relaxed, she spoke slowly at first and then sped up as she
gained traction. “Okay, well, you changed things. I saw this crazy
kid out in the forest who had no idea what was going on. But I saw
your eyes. You were curious. Worried and scared, but you wanted to
know more. You wanted to understand. It seemed like it would be an
even greater crime to take that from you.”

Krys grunted. “Well, um, thanks.”

Shelby laughed.

“Are you still trying to figure me out?”

“Always,” she said. “But I’m happy with you.
You are exciting. You’re smart. You’re caring. Why shouldn’t I want
to be with you? There’s only a few years between us and we waited
until you were legal.”

“We waited?” Krys asked. “We still haven’t
done anything! Well, at least not
that.
”

Shelby chuckled. “True, but not for lack of
my trying!”

“What about Mr. Strain and the others? Any
progress?”

“I don’t want to do that with anyone
else.”

Krys gasped and shook his head. “Oh wow,” he
muttered. “That is not what I meant!”

Shelby grinned at his discomfort and then
sighed. “It’s complicated. I can’t let anyone know about them. I
have to make it known that I need resources and find some ways
around certain roadblocks. It’s going to take some time. A lot of
it.”

Krys frowned. “But you’re still trying,
right?”

“Krys, it took me how long to make progress
on your citizenship? Two years? Maybe more. And all because of the
confusion regarding who you really are.”

“I know who I am.”

“That’s not what I meant,” she groaned.

“It’s just important that they don’t get
forgotten,” Krys said. “And after what happened to them—to us—I
want to make sure they don’t get overlooked.”

Shelby frowned and then put a hand on her
hip. “Wait a minute, are you blackmailing me?”

“What? No!” he backpedaled.

“Of course I’m going to help them. It helps
all of us—why wouldn’t I do it? That’s what I believe in, Krys:
that we need to help each other out so we can all reach our
potential as individuals and as a race. Now stop changing the topic
on me.”

“Oh, um, okay.” His stomach relaxed for a
moment until he realized they were back to talking about the
ridiculous social contracts again. “Tell me something. If these
social contracts are all about convenience, then why are you
talking about wanting to take me with you when you leave? And why
are you putting up with me not agreeing to one whenever you bring
it up? Wouldn’t it be more convenient to just give up and move
on?”

“You’re a bad influence,” she muttered.
“Convenient, yes, but that’s not what I want.”

“It seems silly. All the stories my parents
told me and everything I used to read and watch talked about dating
and having relationships that mattered. The new ways aren’t like
that. Even worse, I have a hard time finding any of the books I
used to read when I want to show you what I’m talking about. Why
should I have to agree to a legal contract so I can call you my
girlfriend?”

Shelby’s mouth opened and closed. Then she
chuckled and nodded. “Okay, that does sound silly. I told you why
I’m trying. I like you. I enjoy spending time with you, and I want
to do more of it. We get along great, usually, and I think we both
have really bright futures ahead of us. So why not share our lives
for as long as we can? And maybe, just maybe, some of your outdated
romantic ideas have rubbed off on me. Don’t let that get out,
though. I don’t want it hindering my chances for promotion.”

“Why would it?”

“Same reason you can’t find your books and
shows on the net. The ideas can be considered subversive.
Confusing. People can get the wrong idea.”

“I’ve read stories like that too,” Krys
said. “I thought they were fiction.”