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“Sir, sorry sir,” he said responding to Lt. Lancer.

Lt.
Lancer did not respond.  He was already chasing down other issues
, like
getting the last of the convoy vehicle loaded, started
,
and moving.

Eckwood pushed into the multi-purpose personnel carrier.  Being the last to join meant he would be sitting over the tailpipe in the back of the vehicle.  If you were the last to get in, then you were also the first to get out.  The soldier sitting in the back was also the most exposed to sniper fire.

Eckwood sat back in his seat and connected his Exo-Suit to the vehicle via a cable that was installed into the vehicle.  Once connected, his Exo-Suit accessed power and communications from the vehicle and the Exo-Suit’s internal batteries could recharge.  Once Eckwood connected to the cable and into the vehicle, the
Exo-S
uit
became
integrated with the militaries “Communication and Resource Assignment and Mobilization” system known as Comm-RAM.

Comm-RAM was the latest in military intelligence and battlefield tactical support.  The purpose of Comm-RAM was to provide the commander in the field with improved intelligence and superior tactical decision support.  Comm-RAM tracked each Exo-Suit that was connected into the Comm-RAM network and then used these connections to monitor the vital statistics of each soldier.  Comm-RAM delivered tactical decision support directly to the officer in command on the battlefield based on updated and constantly changing battlefield intelligence
.  This intelligence was
gathered from all sources including Satellite, local radar, and the information gathered from the Exo-Suit’s that
were
deployed into the battlefield.

Eckwood exhaled, closed his eyes
,
consciously
s
lowed his breathing, which in turn calmed
the rate of his heart beat.  Now that he was connected to Comm-RAM, the military intelligence system would be automatically monitoring his vitals.  If Comm-RAM decided that he was too excited or too nervous based on the readings from his respiration and heart rate monitors, then Comm-RAM would notify the base commander, Lt. Lancer in this case
.  Or
,
if
they were in a combat situation
, they would notify the battlefield commander
. 
Either way, b
eing on the nervous soldier report was not a good experience. 

Therefore, all of the soldiers in the squad had learned basic mediation techniques so that their vital statistics were always within the normal range.  Better to find a way to be c
alm then to attract attention from
the officers.

Eckwood exhaled and then inhaled deeply.  He focused on his breathing and slowly felt the stress of the last minute Exo-Suit repair drain from his musculature.  He relaxed.

Eckwood considered the squad members who he could see sitting around him.  Even though they were all encased in Exo-Suits
,
which were set to Full Active mode
and
meant that the armor covered them completely, Eckwood could differentiate them on sight.  Sometimes
he could recognize them
by the stripes and chevrons painted on their chest armor indicating rank or awards, but most often by the scrapes, scratches
,
and scuffs that made each Exo-Suit unique to its owner. 

Fetch was sitting in the driver’s seat. Although officially designated as the vehicle operator, Fetch rarely did any real driving of the vehicle.  His position in the driver seat was more indicative of his status in the squad.  The
multi-purpose
vehicle was primarily controlled by Comm-RAM during a normal convoy operation.  Fetch could override the Comm-RAM control and actively drive the vehicle using manual controls if this was needed, but so far, this had only happened during training exercises.

Sitting next to Fetch in the front cabin was Fontaine
.  Fontaine
like
d
Fetch,
and
had earned his position in the front of the vehicle due to seniority within the squad.  The other six members of the squad, including Eckwood, were crammed into the back together with the retracted feet of the tripod
.  This was
deployed in order to stabilize the .55 caliber canon that was mounted to the top of the multi-purpose vehicle.  On previous long convoy missions, the squad had debated what the “multi” in multi-use vehicle referred to.  It seemed to the squad that the
m
ulti-use vehicle really only had one purpose, which was to transport a heavy artillery canon and crew into a battlefield environment.

Eckwood together with the other squad members in the back of the vehicle had been together since boot camp.  Fetch and Fontaine riding in the front of the vehicle were serving out a second tour.  The men in the squad had developed the bonds
of
soldier
s
serving together under the stress of combat.  There were clear friendships and some rivalries
,
but in total it was a tight group. Private Holden Eckwood, however, was an outsider.  He felt like the second cousin that had come for a visit and then over stayed his welcome.  He knew he would never be accepted into the squad as an equal.  He knew this, and he knew why.  The other members of the squad treated
him like an outsider because of the purple stripe that decorated the helmet of his Exo-Suit.  When the squad members talked with him, Eckwood sensed that they were looking at the purple mark above his eyes.  They knew what it meant and it made them uneasy.

Eckwood had volunteered to be part of an experiment.  He had traveled to a top secret compound before he was deployed to the desert wars. 
There
he had undergone a rigorous interview process
.  When the doctors and scientists had
finally decided he was a good test subject, they conducted an experimental surgery on him
.  They
implanted a brain-stem interface device into his neck.  Through this device, Eckwood was now directly integrated into Comm-RAM.  His Exo-Suit was outfitted with a syringe mounted above his chest.  Eckwood knew, along with his squad, that if Comm-RAM detect
ed
a live fire fight situation erupting with
in
this squad, then the syringe w
ould
be triggered and instantly pump 10CC’s of liquefied Somnambutol directly into Eckwood’s aorta.  When this happens, Eckwood
would
immediately
be
rendered into a heavily sedated hypnotic state.  An instant later, a veteran soldier
,
standing by in a specialized combat ready room
, would
remotely Synap-in
,
via Comm-RAM
,
and assume control of Eckwood’s body.

The men in the squad had all seen it happen during training.  When the exchange was triggered, quite suddenly, Eckwood’s body would become possessed by a veteran combat soldier.  The officer in the body of Eckwood would instantly become the senior officer in the squad and assume command.  They recognized Eckwood’s voice, but they could tell by the tone of his voice
,
and the words that he used
,
that they were now in the presence of an experienced combat office
r
.   So
,
in a strange way, Eckwood was the squad leader.  However, when Eckwood was himself no one treated him as a squad leader.  In fact, he had less rank and seniority than anyone else in the squad.  During normal operations, Fetch was in command of the squad and Fontaine was the next senior member. 

Eckwood volunteered to be part of the experimental program before he was deployed to the desert wars.
Now, after many months of waiting, the military leaders who were controlling the
experiment
,
w
ere
anxious to start seeing some results.  There were only a handful of soldiers who had volunteered for the program.  The military called them, “Synapse Soldiers” and had embedded them into
combat
,
or
in the
front line squads across the regiment.  So far, none had been tested in actual combat.

When Eckwood first heard about this experimental program and understood that he could be outside of his body during a live fire combat situation, he was immediately ready to sign up.  Eckwood knew instinctively he was not a combat soldier.  His ritual of writing a letter to his
m
other every night helped tamp down the fear he felt by allowing himself to assume the voice of a better soldier, a braver soldier.  But
,
Eckwood knew he was not really the person he pretended to be when he was writing those letters.  In actual combat
,
the fear he felt would overwhelm him.  He imagined he would be killed, or worse, his inaction would result in someone else in his squad being killed.  Eckwood volunteered not because he was afraid for himself, but he was afraid his failure in combat would endanger the other soldiers in his squad. 

Eckwood wrote a long letter to his mother about the day when General Mueller and Lt. Lancer presented the program to the squad.  They discussed the specific
s
of the program with the entire squad
,
and the
y
interviewed each soldier privately looking for volunteers.  When it was Eckwood’s turn
, he
did not hesitate.

Now it was six weeks later and military command was growing increasingly impatient to see results from this experiment.  The squads
,
with embedded Synapse Soldiers
,
started to draw more frequent and more hazardous assignments.  It was a subject that the squad did not discuss openly, but it was something that clearly contributed to the cool attitude Eckwood received from his fellow soldiers.

The
multi-purpose
vehicle rumbled as the engine caught and then instantly lurched forward to join the caravan.  Comm-RAM operated the vehicle efficiently but not smoothly.  Rough driving combined with rough roads made sleeping or resting impossible.  Everyone tried to relax as they were jostled and banged together. Eckwood’s view on this trip would be through the back window.  He watched as they passed through the security gates that marked the perimeter of the compound.  He knew they were now outside the green zone.

Once they were off the compound, they were on alert.  It was a status that would last for many hours as the automated convoy vehicles crawled across the open desert.
Men crammed themselves into Exo-
S
uits, and then the Exo-
S
uits were crammed into the multi-purpose personnel carrier.  The squad was crowed, hot, bored
,
and scared.

Time passed slowly.  Eventually, Private Herrera
,
who was sitting across from Eckwood
,
began questioning him about his unusual role in the squad.

“When someone takes over,” Herrera asked, “Do you know who it is?”

“Nah,” Eckwood replied, “They tell me it’s an experienced combat Vet, an officer.”

Eckwood did not like questions about the Synaptic interface experiment.  His reasons for volunteering for the experiment were not something he would like to share with his squad mates.  Even when he wrote about
the
experiment
s
in the letters to his mother, he described the Synaptic interface
experiment
in a positive light.  Eckwood described the experiment as another modern military technology that would keep him safe and protect him.  In his letters
,
he described the inter
face with the veteran soldier as
something that would give him an advantage when he was in combat.  It was something that he could not say to the other squad members
, and h
e hoped these questions from Herrera would end.

“Are you still there?” Herrera ventured, “I mean when someone takes over, are you still watching?”

“Yeah sure,” Eckwood said, “It’s like watching an old fashioned movie on a vid-screen.  I can see the action, but I’m no longer there, I’m just watching.  The other guy is at the controls.”

“That’s a trip, man
,
” Herrera commented
,
“What a mind bender to watch your own
body go
into action being controlled by some guy who you don’t even know.  What if you start getting wounded?  What then, are you gonna start yelling at the dude – hey be careful with my body, your messing me up
!
”

“I’ll let you know,” Eckwood said, “It has never happened.”

Eckwood felt the pin-prick on his chest before he heard the gunfire.

“Say something original.”

- Franklin Tempo